The latest verdict from the Supreme Court Zambia is a clear indication of the changes within the Zambian legislative system and improvement in transparency and ethical standards. However, the same cannot be said for lower-level courts. The case of Portland Cement Zambia is significantly old as it started more than a decade ago when Dr. Rajan Mahtani approached the Lusaka High Court claiming that his factory was unethically taken over from him. Despite having all evidences and testimonials, the case was dragged for more than decade and the final decision from the Lusaka High Court came only in May, 2018. On top of that, this decision from the Lusaka High Court was extremely controversial as it declared the Ventriglia family as the only majority shareholder of the factory.
Dr. Rajan Mahtani was able to successfully reverse this decision at the higher Court of Appeal. Judge Nkonde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal gave the final decision on the case on 31st January 2019. As per the judgement, the verdict from the Lusaka High Court was misdirected and successfully reversed. Dr. Rajan Mahtani was announced as majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory with 58 percent shares at the Portland Cement.
Despite this ethical and transparent judgement, the Ventriglia family decided to challenge it at the Supreme Court Zambia. A bench of three Supreme Court judges was established for evaluating the claim. It was found that the Ventriglia family was required to submit its claim within 14 days of the court decision of higher Court of Appeal. However, the Ventriglia family failed to comply with this legal requirement. As a result, their claim was effectively rejected by the Supreme Court Zambia.
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