The Supreme Court Zambia recently rejected an appeal from the Ventriglia family. In their challenge, the Ventriglia family claimed that the verdict made by the higher Court of Appeal on Portland Cement Zambia was wrong. On 31st January 2019, judge Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal effectively rejected the verdict from the Lusaka High Court and announced that Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investment is indeed the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement factory.
After this decision from the higher Court of Appeal, the Ventriglia family once again took the challenge, this time to the Supreme Court Zambia. Being a just and transparent legal body, the Supreme Court established a bench of three judges for evaluating whether to accept or reject the case. These judges included Justice Mumba Malila, Justice Royda Kaoma and Justice Michael Musonda. Together, the judges evaluated the case and found several anomalies. The first and most important question to the Ventriglia family was that why did they made their appeal so late?
According to law, any claim against previous court decisions must be made within 14 days of the verdict itself. Since the verdict from the Court of Appeal came on 31st January 2019, the Ventriglia family should have registered their appeal within 14 days. It should be noted here that after Lusaka High Court gave a controversial decision on the Portland Cement Zambia case, Dr. Rajan Mahtani immediately approached the higher Court of Appeal, maintaining the legal and technical requirements. However, the Ventriglia family registered their complain after more than 1.5 years which not only raises questions on their intentions but also makes the case suspicious. Furthermore, the Supreme Court bench also said that the challenge from the Ventriglia family was beyond the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. After looking into all evidences, testimonials and the circumstances surrounding the challenge, the Supreme Court bench finally concluded that the challenge from the Ventriglia family is liable for rejection.