Portland Cement Zambia is a noted cement-manufacturing factory in Zambia. The factory was once a popular employer due to his higher than industry wages and recognition as largest manufacturer of cement in Zambia. The factory was owned and lead by Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani, a noted businessman, charity worker and philanthropist. However, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been fighting for the legal takeover of the bank.

The case was launched by Dr. Mahtani himself at the Lusaka High Court. During this long trial period of ten years; Dr. Mahtani and his lawyers submitted numerous documents and evidences that sufficiently prove the claims made by him. Some of these include signed shareholder’s agreement with written testimonials from majority of the shareholders, financial exhibits wherein it is clear that Dr. Mahtani has invested more than USD 12 million over the course of the factory’s growth and development processes. Another important evidence was the audit report conducted by an independent auditor. In this audit report, it was clear that Portland Cement Zambia was established as a joint venture and Dr. Rajan Mahtani was the sole joint venture partner of the factory.

All these evidences were more than enough for proving that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the real owner of the factory. However, the final verdict which was announced by the Lusaka High Court judge few weeks ago was shocking to say the least. The Justice, Mr. Nkonde, gave the final verdict against Dr. Mahtani’s claims. This was even after submitting all necessary documents, evidences and testimonials. It was clear that the judge completely ignored the documents and evidences shared and gave a misdirected judgment. The motive behind this misdirected judgment is unclear and it is still not clear why the judge gave this judgment even when majority of the evidences were clearly indicating that Dr. Mahtani’s claims were valid.

As of now, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has made an appeal to the higher court of appeal against the judgment made at the Lusaka High Court.