Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is a noted businessman and philanthropist in Zambia with more than 30 years of business experience. He is noted for many successful and long-standing business ventures in Zambia, including Mahtani Group of Companies and Finsbury Investments. Dr. Rajan Mahtani is also the legal owner of the Zambezi Portland Cement for which he fought a long case at the Lusaka High Court. The case was initially registered at the high court and despite sharing numerous evidences and testimonials, the final decision from the case was extremely controversial. The judge at the Lusaka High Court announced that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement. To counter this judgement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani then approached the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal announced its final decision on 31st January 2019. The decision was given by justice Mwinde after looking into the various evidences and testimonials. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement with 58 percent shares. On the other hand, Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds 42 percent shares and is the minority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement. Based on this shareholding pattern, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is the legal owner of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory.
Furthermore, the judge also revealed critical details during the announcement of the Portland Cement Zambia decision. The judge at the Court of Appeal revealed that the decision given aligned with the original shareholders agreement which was established in 2007. Furthermore, the judge also said that the justice below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders of Zambezi Portland as this decision was without evidences and was misdirected. All allegations of forgery were discarded by the judge as the allegations were considered as baseless. Similarly, a timeline of three months from the date of the judgement was given during which all share sales processes must be completed.
