One of the few respected businessmen in Zambia, Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s reputation is of a clean, honest and transparent businessman. His companies such as Finsbury Investments and Mahtani Group of Companies have reached several heights despite staying away from all sorts of unethical and corrupt business practices.
Despite these success stories and reputation of an ethical and honest businessman, Dr. Rajan Mahtani faces significant challenges and risks. One of the major challenges which Dr. Mahtani faced for a long time was the legal takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. The factory was unethically taken over from Dr. Mahtani and despite registering case at the Lusaka High Court, justice was denied for more than a decade. Even after sharing evidences and testimonials, Lusaka High Court judge declared Ventriglias as the only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
As a result, Dr. Rajan Mahtani approached the higher Court of Appeal. The judge at the Higher Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde. After looking into all evidences and testimonials, justice Mwinde declared the final verdict on 31st January 2019. Based on the evidences, it was found that Dr. Rajan Mahtani via his company Finsbury Investments paid one billion kwachas to the Portland Cement Zambia limited in the year 2005. This payment was made with the objective of gaining majority shareholdings of the cement factory. Furthermore, the details of this payment can be found at the original shareholders’ agreement established in the year 2007. Based on all these evidences, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal declared Dr. Mahtani as the majority shareholder and actual owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
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