Court Of Appeal Judge, Justice Mwinde, Declared Final Results On The Portland Cement Case

As per the latest reports, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani has won the long-pending case of Portland Cement Zambia. This case was won at the Court of Appeal, nine months after the case was registered there. Unlike Lusaka High Court which took the case at first and dragged the case for more than ten years, the Court of Appeal finished the proceedings in around nine months. While giving the final statement for the case, the Court of Appeal opened up significant details associated with the case. Most of these details were withheld by the previous judges at Lusaka High Court.

Justice Mwinde evaluated the case on behalf of the Lusaka High Court. It was found that during July 2005, the appellant which is in this case Finsbury Investments paid a sum of USD 250,000 to the ZPC (Zambezi Portland Cement) limited. Finsbury Investments is an organization under the legal leadership of Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani. This amount is equivalent to 1 Billion Kwacha and thus, this amount covered the entire value of the ZPC limited share capital at the time of original shareholders agreement in the year 2005.

The Shareholders Agreement further established in the year 2007 was evaluated by the judge. It was found at page number 663 containing ‘Record of Appeal’ volume. According to these details studied by the Court, it was found that Finsbury Investments was announced at the primary shareholder of the Portland Cement with declaration of 58 percent shares of the factory and no extra costs attached with this declaration. These details from the original shareholders agreement clearly established the fact that Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments holds primary shareholding and legal ownership of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory.

As of now, all forgery related claimed by the other party have been dissolved by the judge. Furthermore, a timeline of three months from 31st January 2019 has been given by the Court of Appeal for completion of share regulations and sales.