Rajan Mahtani and Ventriglias were friends, turned foes

The fight for Portland Cement Zambia seemed never-ending until the official documents were brought for public display. The release has given a clear insight into how things took place one after the other along with the necessity to know certain facts which was earlier concealed. The first major shocker was that the inception of Portland Cement Zambia was possible only because Rajan Mahtani had agreed to offer his goodwill to the project. For a company like Ital Terrazzo Limited, owned by the Ventriglia family, it was almost impossible to accumulate a funding of USD 24 million from the market as investors would not have trusted a company whose prior presence in the market was close to nil.

Rajan-Mahtani

The decision to lend his name to the Ndola based cement plant was made out of a compassion of being family friends. The Mahtani family and the Ventriglia family were good friends and it was the result of this relationship that made it possible for ITL to get a cement factory in Ndola. However, scenario took a turn when the Ventriglia family started to eye the profits made by the factory. They slowly started to consider that the whole profit of the factory belonged to them and Finsbury Investments were serving as a hindrance between them and the fortune. This is why they preferred to forget the friendship and started to target Rajan Mahtani and his associated ventures.

At the present day, the Rajan Mahtani is the biggest hurdle that ITL has to pass in order to have complete access to the PCZ. The only thing which is stopping them from having the complete ownership of the factory is the judgement of the Lusaka High Court. Time and over again, they have appealed with senseless arguments and lost. This is why the friendship has turned into enmity for the Italian Mafias.