The Zambezi Portland Cement has been going through all the hardships in the past one and half years. Ever since the Ventriglia took over the factory in April 2015, they have ensured that the factory remains as a constant source of income of them, but with the wrong arrangement. The production has been halted since December 2015 and at the present the resource of the factories are constantly being shifted to new entities which itself are linked to the notorious Italian Mafias.

To add insult to the injury, the Court on 19 May 2016 refused to appoint a liquidator for Zambezi Portland Cement because the ownership of the factory is still an issue of conflict. The appeal to liquidate the factory was proposed by Finsbury Investments in May 2015 to which the other party, that is, the Ventriglias haven’t responded till date. In return, they have prepared their own fabricated documents of the factory and are busy channelizing the resources. Two incidents where these actions were caught red-handed are Miloto Transport and Astrea Investment. Both these entities are wholly owned by the Ventriglia family and have no business to play. Yet, they are currently the owner of 43 trucks from ZPC and the premise of the factory.

The event itself shows that how the Ventriglia family have played a cunning game against the innocent people of Zambia. On one hand, they have kept the ownership of the factory in dispute so that no legal step can be taken against the factory and on the other hand, they are silently continuing to loot the premise and ensure that Finsbury Investments have nothing to operate in the factory. The key players supporting this carnage in Ndola are Sakwiba Sikota and Zambia Reports. It is one of those days in Zambia where dark clouds of corruption has covered the blue sky of development.

Zambia Reports has once again made its presence felt with the aid of its latest publication. The infamous news portal has recently published a new article which states that Chairman of Mahtani Group of Companies, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has lost an appeal in the case with respect to gaining the ownership of Zambezi Portland Cement factory. The articles goes into discussing the same old story which has been scripted by the conspirators and has been in use since time immemorial. Evans Mulenga, the author of the article, continues to present the same old argument of how Dr. Rajan Mahtani had forged signatures and how the factory’s ownership has been in dispute.

Time and over again, it has been witnessed that the conspirators are constantly trying to play the blame game with Dr. Rajan Mahtani. Any person who is capable of thinking rationally can figure out that Finsbury Investment holds 58% of the share at ZPC and the remaining 42% shares remains with ITL. Now this makes it obvious that the Finsbury Investments are the actual owners of the factory. Now, what the conspirators are trying to do here is present a series of imaginative stories which would probably confuse and mislead the public and as a result, the reputation of Dr. Rajan Mahtani would be affected.

It is known to all that the name, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been associated with numerous development activities in Zambia and Africa. On the other hand, the name of the Ventriglias can only be related to the issue of deportation in 2012. An owner will always care of the business and look after it like his own child, but since the factory has been in the hands of the Ventriglias, it has only seen downfalls and the result was that in December 2015 the factory stopped its operations.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani, the ex-Chairman of Finance Bank, was cheated by the Ventriglias. No, this is not something which we are saying out of personal opinion or saying it as per the articles which were published about the achievements of Dr. Mahtani. We are saying this because we have a legitimate proof in the form of a legal documents. As per a recent release, the official document has been presented for public display whereby people can easily access the information contained and figure out the truth all by themselves.

The official document clearly indicates that Finsbury Investment has the right to hold 58% share of the Portland Cement Zambia and the remaining 42% share of the factory is to be vested in the hands of the Ital Terrazzo Limited. Apart from this clause, there were no other section which indicated that ITL would be having complete access to the management or will be owning 100% ownership of the factory. But sadly, the Italian Mafias have shown Zambia the dark side of their character by hatching a conspiracy against the Finance Bank, Dr. Rajan Mahtani and entities associated with Dr. Mahtani.

Previously, we all have seen that the conspirators wasted no time in making absurd claims such as Dr. Rajan Mahtani is financing political parties of Zambia and Dr. Mahtani bribing judge to have the decision in his favour. It is absolutely meaningless for these bunch of conspirators to make such allegations on a well-respected businessman. They have not only indulged themselves in shameful activities, but have also misled the locals. Thousands of Zambians have lost their jobs due to this conspiracy and it is upon the mismanagement of the Ventriglias that a well-established cement factory has turned into a non-performing unit from December 2015 onward. A dirty game was played in the land of Zambia and Government allowed it to prevail under its nose.

From the events that have surfaced now, it has become evident that Dr. Mahtani & Zambia have been cheated by a group of people, who were once their close allies. After a copy of Court’s order was made available for public display, it was seen that the real share of Portland Cement Zambia remained at 42% and 52% for Ital Terrazzo Limited and Finsbury Investments, respectively.

In addition to the above mentioned fact, there were also other information which surfaced. One of the most shocking story was that the Mahtani family and the Ventriglia family were once upon a time family friends. The Ventriglias operated under the name of Ital Terrazzo Limited and Rajan Mahtani looked after Mahtani Group of Companies. Finsbury Investments also had Dr. Mahtani as one of its core members. When ITL insisted Dr. Mahtani helping them raise funds for setting up a new cement plant, Finsbury Investment came to the rescue and helped ITL to raise US $ 24 million.

Slowly, the factory began to operate and started generating huge profits. Witnessing the success, the Ventriglia family started to think about more money and eventually tried to push out Finsbury Investments from the clause by stating that the factory is 100% owned by ITL.

The incident clearly indicates that Dr. Mahtani & Zambia were cheated by the Italian Mafias and now they are fighting in their own country to preserve their own interest. How sad is that? Apart from the foreign invasion, there is also a group of jealous Zambians who are constantly helping the Ventriglia family to run this defamation campaign. Zambia Reports is actively involved in this campaign along with occasion appearance of other news portals as well. The only motivating factor which has been helping Dr. Mahtani & Zambia is the judicial system as it has refused to acknowledge any claim without any proper evidences supporting the same.

Official document- http://goo.gl/F4pVeh

Portland Cement Zambia has always been regarded as one of the finest resources of Zambia. The unit has not only managed to overcome the problem of unemployment in Ndola, but has also managed to make sure that economy of Zambia continued to grow at a decent pace. However, these developments were short lived when Italian Mafias took over the factory and started to ruin its operating equilibrium. With hardly anything left in the factory as of now, it is time that the people start to wonder whether they can have another PCZ as it is currently on the verge of collapsing.

May it be the financial resources or assets of the factory, Ventriglia family has left nothing for the nation. All money has been extracted from the factory and has been shifted to foreign accounts. Additionally, assets have been transferred to dummy companies whose owners is Antonio Ventriglia himself. Given the situation, it has become evident that loot was the ultimate objective of Ventriglia family and after they came to Zambia, they were determined to make this happen.

The way Zambian resources have been wasted is simply shocking! Workers being dismissed, wealth being looted and current operations suspended. This is how the factory has been slowly slayed under some greedy people. The whole incident would not have been accomplished without the support of some traitors such as Sakwiba Sikota and Zambia Reports. Their contribution ensured that local’s resistance was nullified through provocative writing against Dr. Rajan Mahtani and moreover, the official support was ‘purchased’. There are clear evidences to highlight that corruption and bribery played an important role towards the demolition of Portland Cement Zambia and it is the support of conspirators who had made this possible. As long as these bunch of conspirators will roam around in Zambia, every large and small units are under the danger of being taken by any Tom, Dick and Harry.