Supreme Court Zambia

Claim By Ventriglia Family Lacks Authenticity, Rejected By The Supreme Court

Recently, the Supreme Court Zambia gave its final verdict on the bizarre claim against the higher Court of Appeal. This claim was established by the Ventriglia family claiming that the decision by the Higher Court of Appeal was wrong. On 31st January 2019, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal reversed the decision from the Lusaka High Court and announced Dr. Mahtani as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory.

The Supreme Court Zambia is the highest legal and judiciary system of Zambia with a penchant for transparency and justice for all. As such, the Supreme Court decided to review this claim by the Ventriglia family despite its bizarreness. A bench of three SC judges was established for evaluating the claim. These included judge Mumba Malila, Judge Michael Musonda and Judge Royda Kaoma. This Supreme Court bench evaluated the case across several levels and found several interesting as well as questionable aspects. For instance, it was found that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with a critical legal requirement in which all cases against previous court decisions must be made within 14 weeks of the verdict itself. Since the decision from the higher Court of Appeal came on 31st January 2019, the Ventriglia family were required to submit their case within two weeks of this decision. Instead, the Ventriglia family causally approached the highest legal authority of Zambia without looking into the legal aspects. This further made their claim more suspicious and the Supreme Court bench clarified that the claim by the Ventriglia family was beyond the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court Zambia. Furthermore, the Supreme Court bench also said that the circumstances surrounding the appeal by the Ventriglia was controversial as the Ventriglias did not provide any evidence or testimonials to support its claim against the higher Court of Appeal.
After thorough evaluation, the claim by the Ventriglia family was effectively rejected.

 

Money Laundering

Evaluation From Supreme Court Bench Revealed Lack Of Authenticity In The Claim By The Ventriglias

One of the major reorganizations with respect to the Portland Cement Zambia factory was made between 2006 and early 2007 wherein joint changes were made within the shareholding of the Portland Cement. Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investment received 58 percent shares of the Portland Cement Zambia factory and became the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. After receiving confirmation of the changed shareholding pattern wherein 58 percent shares were owned by Finsbury Investment and 42 percent shares were owned by Ital Terrazzo Limited, money was disbursed by the PTA bank.

Now that the Portland Cement factory was complete and became a fully-fledged organization, the Ventriglia family decided to play by their own rules. The family started to dispute the legality associated with the original shareholders agreement. This resulted in a case at the Lusaka High Court which went for more than a decade. Despite this long pendency, the Lusaka High Court failed to provide transparent decision and gave a verdict in which the Ventriglia family was announced as only shareholders of the Portland Cement factory without any concrete evidence.

After this misdirected judgement, Dr. Mahtani approached the higher Court of Appeal and received justice on 31st January 2019 when judge Mwinde announced that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the actual majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement factory. As such, the Court of Appeal effectively reversed the decision from the Lusaka High Court.

After more than 1.5 years of the decision, the Ventriglia once again tried to play their own rules by challenging the decision of Court of Appeal regarding Portland Cement. This claim was taken to the Supreme Court Zambia. However, the Supreme Court bench effectively rejected the claim by deeming it invalid as it did not fulfil the legal requirements. The claim from the Ventriglia family was also considered as controversial and therefore, the Supreme Court bench concluded that it should be rejected.

Zambezi Portland Cement

Decision From Supreme Court Zambia On Appeal By The Ventriglia Out, Case Rejected By SC

The latest decision from the Supreme Court has finally ended the case of Zambezi Portland Cement after more than 12 years. The case can be easily described as one of the longest-pending cases in Zambian legal system and faced several setbacks and challenges due to unethical legal and corporate meddling and practices by parties. While the decision from the Supreme Court Zambia was with respect to the claim established by the Ventriglia family, their decision has invariably ensured the leadership and ownership of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

The case goes more than a decade back when Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani first registered a case at the Lusaka High Court, claiming that his factory, Portland Cement Zambia was illegally taken from him. Despite having all evidences and testimonials, the verdict from the higher Court of Appeal was extremely misdirected as the Ventriglias were announced as only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia. To counter this misdirected decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani took the case to the higher Court of Appeal. Judge Mwinde took over the case and gave his verdict on 31st January 2019. In his verdict, the decision from the Lusaka High Court was reversed and Dr. Rajan Mahtani was announced as majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory.

After more than 1.5 years of this decision, the Ventriglia family decided to claim against the decision of the higher Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court. In their claim, the Ventriglia family challenged the verdict of the higher Court of Appeal by calling it untrue. To evaluate this claim, a bench of three judges was established at the Supreme Court. Upon evaluation, the judges revealed that the Ventriglia family missed the deadline for registering appeal against previous court decision which is 15 days from the decision. As a result, the Supreme Court bench announced that the claim by the Ventriglia family was invalid and was outright rejected. As such, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani remains the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory.

Zambezi Portland Cement

Portland Cement Zambia Case Finally Over As Supreme Court Favours Decision From Court Of Appeal

Despite the several challenges and issues faced by Dr. Rajan Mahtani, he has not left his path of transparency, honesty and ethics. This can be easily seen in the long wait of more than ten years at the Lusaka High Court for the legal holding of the Zambezi Portland Cement. After that, Dr. Rajan Mahtani moved to the higher Court of Appeal and finally got justice. Finsbury Investments is an organization under Dr. Rajan Mahtani which became the majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory after collaborative agreement among the shareholders. However, the Ventriglias started an internal feud by questioning the instruments used for establishing the original shareholders’ agreement. With unethical political power, they were able to exert their personal interests on the decision by the Lusaka High Court which resulted in a controversial decision of the Ventriglias becoming only shareholders of the Portland Cement.

After this, higher Court of Appeal was approached by Dr. Rajan Mahtani which was a successful attempt as on 31st January 2019, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal effectively reversed the decision from the Lusaka High Court and announced Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments as the majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement with 58 percent shares. It was also announced that the Ventriglias’ owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds just 42 percent shares at the factory and are minority shareholders without any legal ownership over the factory. Furthermore, justice Mwinde also confirmed that the amount payable to the Ventriglias as per legal obligations is K580,000.

The Ventriglias have since tried to take over the factory and in a last-ditch attempt, challenged the Supreme Court of Zambia that the decision made by the higher Court of Appeal was unethical. However, a bench comprising of three Supreme Court judges have since rejected this challenge based on several grounds such as time limit for registering an appeal which already passed. The judges further rejected this proposal based on grounds that the evidence were not enough to accept the claim.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s name cleared by Justice Mumba Malila in his sensational testimony

With the latest testimony from the Judge of the Supreme Court Zambia, a lot of questions arise for the law, governance as well as the justice system of Zambia. It is true that Zambia is a developing nation and has been facing serious challenges due to the widespread corruption and unethical practices. However, the recent testimony from Justice Mumba Malila revealed that this corruption and unethical practices have entered even the justice and governance system within Zambia. This is a real low point for the legal system of Zambia and the dangerous situation for the safety and welfare of the common citizens.

While the characteristics of jealously and wrongdoings are common for unethical and corrupt individuals, the major problem arises when these become so powerful they are able to influence even the government and the legal system. The same issue occurred in case of the 2012 case which one of the major highlights of the testimony was given by Justice Mumba Malila, a judge from the Supreme Court of Zambia. Justice Mumba Malila was the attorney general during that time and made several requests to the Tribunal who were handling the case during that time. The requests were made to make the case ‘null and void’ as it was against public policies. Despite several requests, no such changes were made. In his testimony, Justice Mumba Malila has clearly stated that this was due to the external influence of the politically powerful yet corrupt individuals and groups who were influencing the decision making. According to his testimony, the entire justice system of Zambia is now in question due to the unethical political aspirations and corrupt practices of few individuals and groups within the Zambian nation.

With the advent of the testimony, several corrupt politicians and businessmen have gone underground. It is expected that the legal system of Zambia will now take stringent actions against these corrupt practices and make some drastic changes for the betterment of the nation.

Conspirators Learning Their Lesson With Dr. Mahtani’s Sc Win

Conspiring against honest businessmen has become a habit for the conspirators of Zambia. One of their victims, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani, has been staying in Zambia for many decades. He has successfully established his businesses and continues to work for the welfare of the Zambian citizens. At the same time, he is constantly harassed by conspirators who have grown jealous of his accomplishments. As a result, frequent defamation campaigns can be seen being circulated across media and news channels, trying to disrepute Dr. Mahtani and his businesses. On the other hand, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is rarely seen engaging to the levels of these conspirators. He works on the policy of honesty and dedication and continues to work, leaving these conspirators even more resentful.

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