Supreme Court’s Announcement Comes After Bizarre Appeal From The Ventriglia Family

Dr. Rajan Mahtani is continuously working towards developing his companies as well as serving the Zambian nation. On 31st January 2019, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments was announced as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory after a court battle of more than a decade. In this decision given at the higher Court of Appeal, the previous decision from the Lusaka High Court was reversed in which the Ventriglias were announced as the only majority shareholders. In this new verdict, it was announced that Dr. Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments held 58 percent shares at the factory and were majority shareholder as well as legal owner of the factory. On the other hand, Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited held just 42 percent shares and were announced as minority shareholder without any legal ownership over the factory. Furthermore, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal also announced that the actual amount against majority shares was K580,000 and not K580 million as claimed by the Ventriglias.

Despite being transparent and ethical, the Ventriglia family was unhappy with this decision from the higher Court of Appeal and decided to appeal against it. An appeal was registered at the Supreme Court Zambia, the biggest judiciary system in Zambia. In this appeal, the Ventriglia family challenged the decision of the higher Court of Appeal. To evaluate their claim, a bench of three SC judges was established. This bench found that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with a critical legal requirement under which all claims against previous court decisions are to be made within 14 days of the verdict itself. The Ventriglia family submitted their claim only after 1.5 years of the decision. Several other discrepancies were found in the case. After looking into these aspects, the Supreme Court bench effectively rejected the claim by the Ventriglia family, further ensuring that Dr. Rajan Mahtani remains the majority shareholder as well as legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

After A Decade Of Fight, Portland Cement Zambia Factory Ownership Goes To Its Right Owner

The latest decision from the Supreme Court Zambia certainly puts the case of Portland Cement Zambia to rest. Portland Cement Zambia is a cement-manufacturing factory that was under ownership dispute for more than a decade. The dispute started after the factory’s was unethically taken over and the original shareholding agreement was questioned. Based on this original shareholders agreement, the ownership of Portland Cement was received by Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments. After the initial dispute and subsequent unethical takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia factory, a case was registered at the Lusaka High Court. However, judge Nkonde from the Lusaka High Court failed to provide transparent decision despite the long wait of more than a decade. After the misdirected decision from the Lusaka High Court, Dr. Rajan Mahtani approached the higher Court of Appeal. Judge Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal gave the final decision on 31st January 2019. In this verdict, the previous decision from the Lusaka High Court was called out for being misdirected and was effectively reversed. The fresh decision included establishing Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory with 58 percent shares.

Despite this transparent judgement which was based on evidences and testimonials, the Ventriglia family once again challenged this decision by approaching the Supreme Court Zambia. In their appeal, the Ventriglia family claimed that the decision by higher Court of Appeal on Portland Cement was wrong. However, a bench of three Supreme Court judges established for evaluating this claim found otherwise. As per the investigation, all claims against previous court decisions must be established within 14 days of the court decision itself. In this scenario, the Ventriglia family failed to comply with this legal requirement which required them to submit their claim within 14 days of the higher Court of Appeal’s decision. After considering all these aspects, the Supreme Court bench rejected the appeal by the Ventriglia family.

Portland Cement Zambia Owner Remains Unchanged As Supreme Court Announces Verdict On Claim By The Ventriglia Family

The Portland Cement Zambia factory was taken over by Finsbury Investments which is a top investment company in Zambia owned and led by Dr. Rajan Mahtani. The factory was taken over in an official and transparent manner with established of an original shareholding agreement. Soon the factory started to grow with above-average production, the Ventriglia family hatched a plan to takeover the factory despite the initial acceptance of their minority shareholding as per the original agreement. As a result of these unethical meddling, the case at the Lusaka High Court stretched for more than a decade. During the initial months of 2018, justice Nkonde who was looking into this case at the Lusaka High Court, gave a positive announcement. In his announcement, the judge confirmed that he will be closing the case proceedings. Both parties were asked to submit their evidences and testimonials in written and oral manner. Based only on these evidences submitted by both parties, the final verdict on the case will be provided. This was an extremely positive news for Dr. Rajan Mahtani and his teams as they had all required evidences and testimonials for achieving success in the case. However, despite all these evidences and a mirage of ethical decision making, the final verdict from the Lusaka High Court was eye popping as justice Nkonde announced that the Ventriglia family is the only majority shareholding of the factory.

After this bizarre decision from the Lusaka High Court, Dr. Mahtani approached higher Court of Appeal seeking justice. And this justice was received when Judge Mwinde reversed the decision from the Lusaka High Court and announced Dr. Mahtani owned Finsbury Investment as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory with 58 percent Portland Cement shares. While the Ventriglia family once again decided to disrupt this decision by approaching against it at the Supreme Court, it was effectively rejected by the Supreme Court due to lack of evidence.

After More Than 1.5 Years Of Higher Court Of Appeal’s Decision, Ventriglia Makes Bizarre Claim

The Portland Cement Zambia case would have been settled by now if it was not for the infamous Ventriglia family. The case which started more than a year ago was the result of unethical takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia factory and subsequent registering of the case at the Lusaka High Court. This case was registered at the Lusaka High Court with the hope of quick judgement considering the fact that Dr. Rajan Mahtani had all evidences and testimonials. However, the case stretched for more than a decade and the final decision coming from the Lusaka High Court was extremely controversial. Justice Nkonde on behalf of the Lusaka High Court declared that the Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani then approached the higher Court of Appeal which was overseen by justice Mwinde. On 31st January 2019, Justice Mwinde gave the final decision on the Portland Cement Zambia case. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investment owns 58 percent shares and is the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. On the other hand, Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds just 42 percent shares at the Portland Cement and are the minority shareholders without any legal ownership over the factory. Based on this decision, the judge from the higher Court of Appeal effectively rejected the decision from the Lusaka High Court.

After more than 1.5 years of this definitive decision, the Ventriglia family decided to approach the Supreme Court Zambia challenging the higher Court of Appeal’s decision. In their challenge, they claimed that the decision from the higher Court of Appeal was wrong. To evaluate this claim, a bench of three SC judges was established. This bench evaluated the claim and found that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with critical legal requirement according to which all claims against previous court decisions must be placed within 14 days of the Court decision. As such, the claim from the Ventriglia family was effectively rejected.

Ventriglia Family Remain Unsuccessful In Their Challenge At The Supreme Court Zambia

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is one of the most respected and successful businessmen in Zambia. For more than three decades, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been working tirelessly towards the growth and development of the Zambian nation with his companies, business ventures as well as charitable and philanthropic activities. At the same time, Dr. Mahtani is also warding off unethical and scrupulous entities trying to ruin his businesses and reputation. Finsbury Investment is a successful company under the leadership of Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani which received the majority shareholding and legal ownership of Portland Cement in the year 2007. However, this ownership was scrupulously challenged by the Ventriglia family and with political meddling as well as corporate criminality, the Ventriglia family were able to take control of the Portland Cement with Lusaka High Court’s verdict.

However, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was able to successfully change this controversial and misdirected decision at the Lusaka High Court by appealing against it at the higher Court of Appeal. The judge at the higher Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde and after looking into all evidences and testimonials, announced the final decision On 31st January 2019. According to this decision, the verdict from the Lusaka High Court on Portland Cement was unethical and should be reversed. Accordingly, judge Mwinde ordered that the ownership of Portland Cement should be given back to Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments.

After this definitive decision from the higher Court of Appeal, the functions at Portland Cement went smooth for some time until the Ventriglia family decided to once again disrupt the peaceful operations by challenging the Court of Appeal’s verdict on Portland Cement. This appeal was made at the Supreme Court Zambia and a bench of three SC judges was established for evaluating this claim. Upon evaluation, the Supreme Court bench concluded that the claim by the Ventriglia family is irrelevant and without any legal fulfilment. As such, this claim from the Ventriglia family was rejected.

Challenge By Ventriglia Family At The Supreme Court Remains Unsuccessful

After the misdirected decision from the Lusaka High Court, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was able to successfully challenge this decision at the Higher Court of Appeal. Justice Mwinde looked into the case and on 31st January 2019, reversed the decision from the Lusaka High Court. While Dr. Rajan Mahtani received back his factory, the Ventriglia family decided to try their luck once again by approaching the Supreme Court this time. In their appeal, the Ventriglia family challenged the decision of the higher Court of Appeal was questioning its authenticity and validity. In a way, it can be seen here that the Ventriglia family tried to do the same thing which Dr. Rajan Mahtani successfully achieved with respect to the Higher Court of Appeal. The Ventriglia family claimed that they were the majority shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement and the decision from the higher Court of Appeal judge was wrong. At the same time, the Ventriglia family also claimed that the amount payable against majority shares is K580 million and not K580,000 as finalised by the higher Court of Appeal judge.

However, several anomalies and controversial aspects surround the latest claim by the Ventriglia family. First, the verdict given by the higher Court of Appeal judge Mwinde was based entirely on the available evidences and testimonials, evidences that were purposely rejected or removed in the decision-making process at the Lusaka High Court. To evaluate this appeal, a bench comprising of three Supreme Court judges was established. After evaluation, the Supreme Court judges revealed that a critical legal requirement in registering such cases is that the appeal must be submitted within 14 days of the previous case decision. Since the decision from the higher Court of Appeal came on 31st January 2019, the Ventriglia family were more than 1.5 years late in making their appeal. As a result, their appeal was rejected and Dr. Mahtani remains the only legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

Claim By The Ventriglia Family Against Higher Court Of Appeal’s Verdict Rejected By SC

Portland Cement Zambia is a cement-manufacturing factory that has seen ups and down quite more than any other factory in the province. In the year 2007, a significant corporate restructuring was announced in an official shareholding agreement and Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments received 58 percent shares of the factory, making it the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. Barely after this significant shareholding and ownership change, the Ventriglia family engaged in a significant unethical practice. Even after signing the shareholders agreement themselves, the Ventriglias decided to question the shareholding instrument’s legality which resulted in the owners of Zambezi Portland being deprived of the majority shareholding stake. This resulted in significant loss for Finsbury Investments who were deprived of the financial support they earned via Zambezi Portland shares. Finsbury Investments further suffered losses due to several of the projects being halted as a result of lack of funds.

The case of Zambezi Portland went through two major courts with two different verdicts. The first court was Lusaka High Court where the final verdict was controversial to say the least. Due to this misdirected and controversial verdict, an appeal was made at the higher Court of Appeal. The judge at the higher Court of Appeal was judge Mwinde and after evaluating the evidences and testimonials, gave his final verdict on 31st January 2019 in which the previous decision from the Lusaka High Court was effectively rejected. Furthermore, judge Mwinde announced Dr. Rajan Mahtani as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory.

The next phase was peculiar as the Ventriglia decided to make an appeal to the Supreme Court against the same verdict from higher Court of Appeal. The SC, being a transparent and ethical decision maker for the nation, evaluated this appeal from the Ventriglia family and found it to be violating several legal precedence. As a result, this claim by the Ventriglias was effectively rejected by Supreme Court.

SC Bench Reject The Claim By Ventriglias Challenging Court Of Appeal’s Decision On Portland Cement

With their latest claim against Zambezi Portland Cement at the Supreme Court Zambia, the Ventriglias have certainly tried to imitate the events surrounding the Lusaka High Court. Finsbury Investments is a noted investment firm under the ownership of Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani. Between late 2006 and early 2007, official shareholding changes were made at the Zambezi Portland Cement factory, giving majority shareholder and ownership to Finsbury Investments. These changes provided critical support for the cement-manufacturing factory for obtaining loans from Bank and related financial institutions, complete its construction process and continue its contribution to the Zambian economy and society. The released money by the PTA bank was made based on the established shareholding pattern among Finsbury Investments & Ital Terrazzo Limited.

Despite the changes and approval made to the shareholders agreement associated with Portland Cement, the Ventriglias tried to deceive the law and industry policies by disputing the legality associated with shareholders’ agreement. As a result of this dispute, the money from the PACRA stopped which further resulted in loss of business and future revenue opportunities for both Finsbury Investments and Portland Cement Zambia. The Ventriglias were able to influence the decision of the Lusaka High Court by engaging in hardcore crime, threatening people and institutions in mafia-life style as well as engaging in unethical manoeuvres with the officers of the law. As a result of these unethical activities, the final decision of the Lusaka High Court was heavily influenced. During may, 2018, justice Nkonde on behalf of the Lusaka High Court announced Ventriglias as the only shareholders of the factory.

The Ventriglia family might have tried to enact the same event by challenging the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court is expected to be above reproach. The judges at the Supreme Court evaluated the claim by the Ventriglias and found it not only to be legally unviable, but also tainted without evidences. As such, this claim was rejected by the Supreme Court Zambia.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani to continue with his Portland Cement operations after Supreme Court decision

The final decision from Supreme Court Zambia on the challenge thrown by the Ventriglias is a right step towards overall growth of the Zambian legal system. This transparency and honest decision will provide example and roadmap for the lower-level courts to focus on justice and avoid corruption as well as power politics. Dr. Rajan Mahtani is one of the most respected and renowned businessmen in Zambia. Despite his name, Dr. Mahtani is continuously faced with challenges and roadblocks preventing him from continuing his smooth business operations. Despite the fact that majority of the businesses and organizations of Dr. Rajan Mahtani are dedicated for the service of Zambian nation, he is often the target of corrupt politicians and businessmen who are always looking to exploit others for their own profit. At the same time, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is known to be a strict adherer of law and all his businesses as well as ventures are known for upholding the highest forms of laws. When Dr. Rajan Mahtani registered a complaint at the Lusaka High Court against the unethical takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia factory by the Ventriglias, it was no surprise. However, onlookers, lawyers and people in general were surprised when justice Nkonde on behalf of the Lusaka High Court announced Ventriglias as the only majority shareholder of the factory.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani was able to counter this decision at the higher Court of Appeal and on 31st January 2019, justice Mwinde reversed the decision from the Lusaka High Court by announcing Dr. Mahtani as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. After more than 16 months, the Ventriglias tried to disrupt the peaceful business operations of Ventriglia by challenging the Court of Appeal’s decision at Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court effectively rejected this claim due to lack of evidences and legal acceptability, ensuring that Dr. Mahtani remains the legal owner of the factory.

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani’s Ownership At Portland Cement Remains Unchanged With SC Verdict

After more than a 15 months of the decision made by higher Court of Appeal on Portland Cement case, the Ventriglias made a peculiar request. This appeal was made at the Supreme Court Zambia, the highest legal judiciary system of Zambia. In this appeal, the Ventriglias claimed that the decision by the previous court, higher Court of Appeal, on the Portland Cement Zambia case was invalid and incorrect. Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is one of the most respected businessmen in Zambia and he is known for his ethical and transparent business practices. Despite his straightforward business practices, Dr. Rajan Mahtani faced significant difficulties in taking over ownership of his own company. Portland Cement Zambia is a factory which was under the legal ownership of Dr. Rajan Mahtani for a while. However, the Ventriglias unethically claimed ownership over the factory which prompted Dr. Mahtani to approach the Lusaka High Court. The judge at the Lusaka High Court was justice Nkonde who gave a controversial judgement by announcing Ventriglias as the only shareholders of the Portland Cement. As such, Dr. Rajan Mahtani then approached the higher Court of Appeal. On 31st January 2019, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal announced Dr. Mahtani as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory.

Now the Ventriglias have claimed that the decision from the higher Court of Appeal is unethical and misdirected. A bench of three judges was established at the Supreme Court of Zambia to validate the claim. These included judges Mumba Malila, Royda Kaoma and Michael Musonda. After evaluation, it was found that the appeal was legally not viable. According to law, any appeal against a previous court decision must be made within fourteen days of the judgement itself. As such, the Ventriglias failed to make the appeal within the given timeframe. Furthermore, the judges also said that the decision of Finsbury Investments to invoke the Rule-19 was correct in thwarting ill-fated appeal of Ventriglias.

As such, the appeal by the Ventriglias was effectively rejected by the Supreme Court Zambia.