Court Of Appeal Effectively Reverses The Judgement From The Lusaka Hc On Portland Cement

The Court of Appeal is the highest-level judicial system in Zambia. The Court recently reversed the judgement from the Lusaka High Court which was delivered in the year 2018 by justice Nkonde. This decision from the Lusaka High Court said that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

After Dr. Rajan Mahtani re-appealed to the higher Court of Appeal, justice Mwinde from the Court of Appeal evaluated the submitted evidences, testimonials and other facts associated with the case. After evaluation, it was found that the decision from the Lusaka High Court was indeed misdirected. According to the actual evidence, it was found that Dr. Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments paid a sum of one billion kwachas or USD 250,000 to the Portland Cement Zambia limited. This amount covered the value of the entire share capital associated with the factory. Furthermore, another major evidence associated with the case was the original shareholder’s agreement. In the page number 663 of this shareholders’ agreement, it was found that Dr. Mahtani was given ownership of 58 percent shares of the factory and it also confirmed that Dr. Mahtani did not owe any further costs associated with the case. This shareholders’ agreement was accepted by all major shareholders related to the case and therefore, confirmed the case further.

Several other details were shared by the court in this case. It was found that forgery related allegations were unethical. The process of mechanical placement of signatures was common in Portland Cement Zambia and an acceptable practice. As a result, all forgery related allegations were discarded by the judge.

After looking into the evidences, testimonials and other details, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal gave the final decision on 31^st January 2019. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is majority shareholder and actual owner of the factory. The judge also gave a timeline of three months from the date of the judgement for completion of share sales and regulation related activities.