The case of Portland Cement Zambia has certainly come to an end. This was achieved courtesy of the appeal made by the Ventriglia family. The case of Portland Cement is a long one which started when the majority shareholding and legal ownership of the factory was received by Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments . After unethical protest and takeover, a case was registered at the Lusaka High Court wherein the case dragged for more than a decade. Despite this, the decision from the judge at the Lusaka High Court was controversial with the judge announcing that Ventriglia family were the only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani was able to successfully challenge this verdict at the higher Court of Appeal. Judge Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal gave the final decision on the Portland Cement Zambia on 31st January 2019. In this verdict, justice Mwinde reversed the decision from the Lusaka High Court and announced that Dr. Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is majority shareholder and legal owner with 58 percent shares over the factory. Furthermore, the higher Court of Appeal also declared that the actual amount against majority shareholding was K580,000 as opposed to K580 million claimed by the Ventriglia family.
All these decisions were challenged by the Ventriglia family in their sudden claim at the Supreme Court Zambia. A bench comprising of three Supreme Court judges found that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with the necessary regulation of submitting their case within 14 days of the judgement from higher Court of Appeal. As a result, the appeal by the Ventriglia family was effectively rejected by the Supreme Court Zambia