The Court of Appeal announced the final decision on the Portland Cement Zambia case on 31st January 2019. This case was originally launched at the Lusaka High Court by Dr. Rajan Mahtani, a noted businessman, philanthropist and charity worker in Zambia. After more than a decade of case proceedings, the judge from the Lusaka High Court made the final announcement. However, the decision was extremely disappointing and controversial since the judge made the decision without taking into account the various evidences and testimonials. As a result, the case was further approached to Court of Appeal by Dr. Rajan Mahtani.
The Court of Appeal judgement was given by notable judge Justice Mwinde. According to this judgement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani who owns Finsbury Investments is the majority shareholder of Zambezi Portland Cement with 58 percent shares. On the other hand, Ventriglias who own Ital Terrazzo Limited hold just 42 percent shares are only minority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory without any legal ownership over the factory. With this decision, the judge from Court of Appeal effectively reversed the judgement from the Lusaka High Court. Dr. Rajan Mahtani was announced as the legal owner of the cement manufacturing factory and the judge also condemned the act of the Lusaka High Court judge. According to the Court of Appeal, the judge at the Lusaka High Court was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders without any proof or evidence.
Several major details associated with the case were made public during this judgement. All allegations of forgery were discarded by the judge. It was confirmed that the process of mechanically placing signatures for business transactions was a common affair at the Portland Cement Zambia. Moreover, it was also found that critical member of the Zambia family, Claudio Ventriglia, engaged in similar practice. As such, all forgery allegations were discarded and the judge gave three months for completing share regularization process.