After more than a decade of wait and consistent legal fights, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been finally declared winner of the Portland Cement Zambia. It is a cement manufacturing factory which is being contested by two big business parties in Zambia. One of them is Dr. Rajan Mahtani, a noted businessman and philanthropist in Zambia with numerous successful business practices included Mahtani Group of Companies, Finsbury Investments and Finance Bank Zambia. He is also the owner of numerous successful international business ventures, especially across United Kingdom. Dr. Rajan Mahtani has made a name for himself with his ethical and transparent business practices. On the other hand, the Ventriglias are in infamous Italian family in Zambia infamous for their coercive and unethical business practices. The case of Portland Cement Zambia was launched at the Lusaka High Court after Dr. Rajan Mahtani claimed that his factory was illegally taken over.
The case ran at the Lusaka High Court for ten years and final decision on the case was given during the month of May, 2018. This decision was extremely controversial as the judge concluded 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 provided its judgement on 31st January 2019 and was given by justice Mwinde. According to this judgement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is the majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement with 58 per cent shares. On the other hand, Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds just 42 per cent shares at the factory and is the minority shareholder without any legal ownership. Based on this decision from the Court of Appeal, it is clear that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the legal owner of the factory. The judge from the Court of Appeal also condemned the unethical and misdirected judgement from the Lusaka High Court judge.