The case of Portland Cement Zambia is age-old. It is a noted cement factory which was successfully running under the leadership of Dr. Rajan Mahtani. Dr. Mahtani is a noted businessman and philanthropist with numerous successful businesses under his name. Some of his top businesses include Finsbury Investment, Mahtani Group of Companies and Finance Bank Zambia. All of his companies have reached heights in terms of success, productivity as well as accolades from the citizens as well as the government. Apart from that, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has also successfully established networks and businesses outside Zambia, such as in the United Kingdom. This has also helped him in bringing numerous foreign investment opportunities.
Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani filed for the legal takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia almost a decade back. Since then, he has been fighting for the legal rights of the factory. During this time, the factory production dropped and the majority of the workers and staff were either laid off or left the factory. The trial of the case also stretched too long for various reasons. For instance, the judges handling the case during the initial years got transferred or couldn’t take the case any further. In many other occasions, one of the parties was either absent or unavailable due to numerous circumstances. All these issues resulted in this long pendency of the Portland Cement Zambia case.
The latest judge overseeing the case made some progress when he announced that the case hearing is closed and both parties were requested to bring their evidences in written and oral format. After reviewing these evidences, the judge was to announce the final verdict. However, the recent judgment made by the same judge was considered as unfair by many as he gave the verdict against Dr. Rajan Mahtani. As a result, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has now approached a higher court of law to appeal against this judgment.