Zambian citizens and corporate houses are still recovering from the shock they received sometime back after the final judgment on Portland Cement Zambia was announced. It was first registered by Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani, a famous philanthropist, social workers and businessman with more than thirty years of experience within Zambia. The case is about the cement factory which was taken away from Dr. Mahtani.

During the long running trial for over ten years, the case saw numerous changes, especially due to the transfer of judges. This further stretched the timeline of the case as the new judge required more time to go over the case and reach to a respectable position for further arguments and trials. The latest judge overseeing the case made a position announcement few months back by declaring that the case hearing was closed. This meant that the trials and arguments are over and both parties were also asked to submit their evidences in written and oral format. It was positive news for Dr. Mahtani and his lawyers as majority of the documents and evidences submitted by them were more than enough to prove his client of legal ownership over the factory. Some of these documents were signed shareholder’s agreement, financial exhibits, investment reports of more than USD 2 million by Dr. Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments and several testimonials. Another major evidences submitted by the audit report conducted by an independent audit officer. As per this audit report, the factory was established as a joint venture partnership and Dr. Mahtani was the sole joint venture partner of the factory.

Despite these strong evidences and support from testimonies by several important members associated with the factory, the final verdict was given against Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s claims. As such, Dr. Mahtani took the right step and has now approached the higher court of Zambia to make an appeal against this misdirected judgment made at the Lusaka High Court.