Zambezi Portland Ownership Remains Unchanged With SC Announcing Verdict On Claim By Ventriglias

Finsbury Investment is a top organization in Zambia and under the leadership of Dr. Rajan Mahtani and the company has flourished into one of the biggest investment firm across Zambia. Zambezi Portland Cement is a factory which was established in the year 2004 and underwent significant re-organizations in the following years. Between 2006-2007, a shareholding agreement was established according to which, Dr. Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments received 58 percent shares and became the majority shareholder as well as the legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. Despite this official shareholding, Dr. Rajan Mahtani faced significant challenged after the Ventriglia family started to dispute the legality associated with the Portland Cement factory’s shareholding. This resulted in a case being registered at the Lusaka High Court. The decision from the Lusaka High Court came after more than a decade and despite that, it was controversial as the Ventriglias were announced as majority shareholders without any evidence. 

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani was able to reverse this decision at the higher Court of Appeal. On 31st January 2019, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal reversed the Lusaka High Court’s decision. The judge announced that Dr. Mahtani is indeed the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. The Ventriglia family once again contested the decision, this time at the Supreme Court Zambia. In their claim, the Ventriglia family challenged the Court of Appeal’s decision by calling it wrong. However, the Supreme Court bench established to evaluate this decision concluded that the claim is not viable due to lack of legal requirement as well as lack of any evidentiary support. As a result, the claim by the Ventriglia family was rejected effectively.