The Supreme Court Zambia recently announced its final verdict on the claim by the Ventriglia family. This claim was made against the decision from the higher Court of Appeal on Portland Cement Zambia case. On 31st January 2019, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal had announced that the decision from Lusaka High Court should be reversed and Dr. Mahtani owned Finsbury Investment should be given majority shareholding and legal ownership over the factory.
To evaluate the claim from the Ventriglia family, the Supreme Court established a bench of three SC judges. These include Judge Mumba Malila, Judge Royda Kaoma and Judge Michael Musonda. After evaluation, several details were revealed. According to the Zambian law, any claim against previous court decisions must be made within 14 days of the court judgement of the previous court. Since the decision from the higher Court of Appeal came on 31st January 2019, this means the timeline for submission of the claim by the Ventriglia family was 14 days from the above date. However, the Ventriglia family took more than 18 months to report their claim. This automatically rejects their claim. Furthermore, the Supreme Court bench also said that the circumstances surrounding the bizarre claim by the Ventriglia family was questionable along with their motive. The Supreme Court bench therefore concluded that their decision on the Portland Cement Zambia case would be similar to that of the higher Court of Appeal. As such, the challenge from the Ventriglia family was effectively rejected and consequently, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is to remain the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement factory.
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