Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the real owner of PCZ
Chairman Finance Bank Zambia

Portland Cement Factory Ownership Is Now Stable, Supreme Court Confirms It Its Statement

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is a noted businessman in Zambia. His successes expand to several companies and businesses including Mahtani Group of Companies, Finsbury Investments and Finance Bank Zambia. He is also known for his philanthropic and charitable activities, which often go unnoticed as Dr. Mahtani refrains from promoting or publishing his philanthropic acts. Despite this, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has faced several challenges in conducting his businesses. One of the biggest challenge till date has been associated with Portland Cement Zambia, a cement-manufacturing factory under dispute for more than a decade over its legal ownership.

Despite an official takeover by Finsbury Investments, the cement-manufacturing was unethically taken over by the Ventriglia family, prompting an appeal at the Lusaka High Court. However, the Lusaka High Court failed to provide transparent decision and announced Ventriglias as only shareholders after more than a decade of case proceedings.

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani then decided to approach the higher Court of Appeal where justice Mwinde took over the case. The case proceedings went for around nine months and final verdict came on 31st January 2019. In this verdict, the decision from the Lusaka High Court was reversed and Dr. Rajan Mahtani was announced as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory.

The Ventriglia family, unhappy with this decision, launched another appeal at the Supreme Court Zambia. In their appeal they challenged the decision of the higher Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court then established a bench of three SC judges for evaluating the case. During evaluation, it was found that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with a critical legal requirement under which all claims against previous court decision must be made within 14 days of the case verdict. In this case, the claim by the Ventriglia family was made only after 1.5 years, making the claim invalid. Along with several other evaluations, the Supreme Court bench finally decided to reject the appeal by the Ventriglia family.