Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s win at Court of Appeal comes after significant challenges & roadblocks

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani has finally won the curious and dragged case of Zambezi Portland Cement. However, this win comes after a lot of patience, sacrifice and loss for Dr. Rajan Mahtani. The Zambezi Portland Cement case was originally registered at the Lusaka High Court by Dr. Rajan Mahtani after claiming the illegal takeover of the factory. During the initial case proceedings only, the lawyers from Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s end shared all evidences and documents that were more than enough to prove his legal ownership over the factory. However, almost all of these evidences were ignored and the case ultimately dragged for more than a decade. There goes the patience. After that Dr. Rajan Mahtani rightly approached the higher Court of Appeal for justice.

Justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher court of Appeal announced final decision on 31st January 2019. This judgement was quick and was given within a time period of around nine months from re-appealing to the Court of Appeal. Therefore, it can be said that patience and perseverance of Dr. Mahtani paid off ultimately. On behalf of the Court of Appeal, justice Mwinde declared that Dr. Rajan Mahtani paid one billion kwachas or USD 250000 to the ZPC limited which covered the total value of share capital which Dr. Mahtani took over. The documents presented by the lawyers including the shareholders’ agreement of 2007 further confirmed this financial transaction and also clarified that Dr. Mahtani was not liable to any further costs which may occur.

However, all these came a little too late for Dr. Rajan Mahtani as the condition of the Zambezi Portland Cement after it was rightly handed over to Dr. Mahtani is miserable. The factory production has diminished significantly and the factory suffered significant loss. This is a loss for Dr. Rajan Mahtani too but he is positive that with hard work and patience he will be able to bring the factory back to its former glory.