The Ventriglia family in Zambia is infamous for their unethical activities, corrupt practices and getting away with power politics. One of the most infamous act by this family was the unethical takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia factory from Finsbury Investment owner Dr. Rajan Mahtani. Finsbury Investments received the majority shareholding and legal ownership of the factory via original shareholding agreement. However, the agreement was disregarded, questioned and the factory was illegally taken over. This resulted in Dr. Rajan Mahtani approaching the Lusaka High Court for justice. Despite being a straightforward case, the Lusaka High Court took more than a decade to announce its final verdict on the case. And when it was announced, it turned out to be a controversial one. Justice Nkonde from the Lusaka High Court announced that the Ventriglia family is the only majority shareholder of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
Dr. Rajan Mahtani was able to successfully challenge this decision at the higher Court of Appeal. The judge at the higher Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde and on 31st January 2019, judge Mwinde effectively reversed the decision from the Lusaka High Court. Justice Mwinde further announced that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. Unhappy with the decision from the higher Court of Appeal, the Ventriglia family decided to challenge this verdict from the higher Court of Appeal. However, their verdict came more than 1.5 years later than required from the legal point of view. As such, the Supreme Court Zambia effectively evaluated this case and came to the conclusion that the appeal from the Ventriglia family was devoid of any evidence or legal precedence. As such, this appeal from the Ventriglia family was effectively rejected by the Supreme Court.
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