While approaching the higher Court of Appeal, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani was definitely concerned. Before this higher Court, the case of Portland Cement Zambia was registered at the Lusaka High Court. The case was dragged for more than a decade and despite submitting all evidences and testimonials, the Lusaka High Court turned a bling eye to them and announced the Ventriglias as the only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia. It has been alleged that the Ventriglia family were able to influence the decision at the Lusaka High Court with unethical political meddling, corporate criminality and influencing the verdict in their direct with unethical means. After the unethical decision from the Lusaka High Court, Dr. Rajan Mahtani approached the higher Court of Appeal by claiming that he was wronged at the Lusaka High Court. The judge at the Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde who gave the final decision on 31st January 2019 and reversed the decision of the Lusaka High Court. Justice Mwinde further announced that Dr. Mahtani is the actual owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory and should remain so.
After this transparent and ethical decision, the Ventriglia family decided to take another step and approached the Supreme Court challenging the Court of Appeal’s decision. The Supreme Court then established a bench of three judges to evaluate this claim. After evaluation, the SC bench concluded that the claim from the Ventriglia family cannot be accepted as it violated the critical requirement of submitting cases within 14 days of the court decision. As such, the appeal by the Ventriglia family was rejected by the Supreme Court Zambia.
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