Dr. Mahtani

Zambezi Portland Cement

Decision From Supreme Court Zambia On Appeal By The Ventriglia Out, Case Rejected By SC

The latest decision from the Supreme Court has finally ended the case of Zambezi Portland Cement after more than 12 years. The case can be easily described as one of the longest-pending cases in Zambian legal system and faced several setbacks and challenges due to unethical legal and corporate meddling and practices by parties. While the decision from the Supreme Court Zambia was with respect to the claim established by the Ventriglia family, their decision has invariably ensured the leadership and ownership of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

The case goes more than a decade back when Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani first registered a case at the Lusaka High Court, claiming that his factory, Portland Cement Zambia was illegally taken from him. Despite having all evidences and testimonials, the verdict from the higher Court of Appeal was extremely misdirected as the Ventriglias were announced as only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia. To counter this misdirected decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani took the case to the higher Court of Appeal. Judge Mwinde took over the case and gave his verdict on 31st January 2019. In his verdict, the decision from the Lusaka High Court was reversed and Dr. Rajan Mahtani was announced as majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory.

After more than 1.5 years of this decision, the Ventriglia family decided to claim against the decision of the higher Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court. In their claim, the Ventriglia family challenged the verdict of the higher Court of Appeal by calling it untrue. To evaluate this claim, a bench of three judges was established at the Supreme Court. Upon evaluation, the judges revealed that the Ventriglia family missed the deadline for registering appeal against previous court decision which is 15 days from the decision. As a result, the Supreme Court bench announced that the claim by the Ventriglia family was invalid and was outright rejected. As such, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani remains the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s win at Court of Appeal

2020 Brings Some Good News For Dr. Rajan Mahtani, Retains Ownership Of Portland Cement

The year 2020 has not been great. Perhaps, it can be said that the year has been the worst in the past 100 years due to the ongoing global pandemic that has not only claimed millions of life but has brought the global economy to a standstill. Almost every nation across this globe has suffered and Zambia could not escape this pandemic. While the blow has not been as severe as some of the more developed nations, it still resulted in significant loss of life and life savings for many. In terms of businesses too, many companies suffered due to economic volatility and loss of international trade. Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is a noted businessman and philanthropist in Zambia with several successful businesses such as Mahtani Group of Companies, Finsbury Investments and Portland Cement Zambia. Even he faced issues due to this global pandemic which resulted in loss of revenues and profitability for his organizations and ventures.

However, one of the positive aspects which happened to Dr. Rajan Mahtani during the later part of the year was a surprise move from his arch enemies the Ventriglias. It is a known fact that Dr. Rajan Mahtani, who now owns the Portland Cement Zambia factory, fought for the legal ownership of the factory for more than a decade. First it was Lusaka High Court given a misdirected decision, then higher Court of Appeal reversing the decision from the higher Court of Appeal and giving majority shareholding and legal ownership to Dr. Rajan Mahtani. After more than a year of the Court of Appeal decision, the Ventriglias approached the Supreme Court with a new claim challenging the Court of Appeal’s decision. However, the Supreme Court Zambia effectively rejected this appeal as according to law any appeal against a previous court decision must be made within 14 days of the judgement. Since the Ventriglias were more than a year late, the Supreme Court Zambia rejected their appeal and announced that the factory belongs to Dr. Rajan Mahtani only.

Supreme Court Of Zambia Announces Dr. Mahtani As The Penultimate Owner Of Portland Cement

In a surprising turn of events, the Ventriglia family decided to make an appeal to the Supreme Court of Zambia after the higher Court of Appeal dismissed their plea and announced Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. Dr. Rajan Mahtani is a prominent businessman in Zambia who has been fighting for the legal takeover of the factory for a long time. First it was Lusaka High Court where the case was registered by Dr. Rajan Mahtani claiming that the factory was unethically taken over from him. However, more than a decade of case proceedings as well as several strong evidences did not give any respite to Dr. Rajan Mahtani as the judge at the Lusaka High Court went against the evidences and conferred the Ventriglias as the only owners of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

Notwithstanding this unethical decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani rightly approached the higher Court of Appeal. The judge at the higher Court of Appeal was justice Siwvwapa who after looking into the evidences and testimonials, announced Dr. Rajan Mahtani as the majority shareholder of the factory with 58 percent shares. Thus, the Court of Appeal overthrew the judgement from the lower higher Court and gave a transparent decision.

However, the Ventriglias decided to further drag the case by approaching the Supreme Court of Zambia, the highest court in any nation. However, this decision proved to be fatal as the bench established at the Supreme Court comprising of SC judges rejected the appeal on ethical and legal grounds. According to the legal grounds, the Ventriglias must have made the appeal within 14 days after the judgement from the higher Court of Appeal which they did not. As such, their appeal on challenging the higher Court of Appeal becomes invalid. Second, the bench of SC judges confirmed that the appeal had no circumstances or proof to be accepted. As such, Dr. Rajan Mahtani remains the actual owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani

Dr. Rajan Mahtani Thankful For The Praise From Later Winner Of Steven Malama Award

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is one of the premier businessmen in Zambia who is noted for his business acumen, entrepreneurial spirit as well as his charitable and philanthropic contributions to the Zambian society and economy. One of these contributions has been the creation of the Steven Malama award in the year 2012, which was established for honouring the great contributions of the late Steven Malama.

The Steven Malama award has practically transformed the legal education system of Zambia. Apart from bringing nation-wide recognition and interest on the field of law, this award system has also improved the value and ranking of the institute. Now, students are found to be more dedicated and motivated to improve their studies for the award. While there have been numerous internal award systems by institutions, universities and colleges, the recognition of Steven Malama award is distinctive, partly due to the achievements by late Steven Malama. As such, the Steven Malama award is considered as one of the top educational awards in Zambia and the credit for this goes to Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani. Dr. Mahtani provided not only administrative and political support for the institution of the award, but also ensured its viability and credibility with the prize money awarded to winning students every year. This prize money is worth K15,000 which is a significant amount for deserving candidates, especially those coming from difficult financial backgrounds. Dr. Rajan Mahtani has never been the one to promote himself with this philanthropic and charitable activities and therefore, most of the students from the institute were unaware of Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s significant contribution in this award system. With this financial contribution, several students across the years have achieved this dreams, be it starting their own practice, getting training from top institutes as well as seed money for becoming entrepreneur. This amount has also helped many students to further their career by joining advanced legal programs and courses.

Dr Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani

Dr. Rajan Mahtani Presented The Steven Malama Award For The Year 2017-18

The Steven Malama award was established by Dr. Rajan Mahtani via his company Finance Bank Zambia. The award was established for honouring Steven Malama, a distinct and notable legal professional in Zambia. Late Steven Malama made significant contributions for the improvement of the legal system and environment of Zambia. One of his major contribution was persuading the Zambian government to merger the Solicitor’s Bar and Barrister’s bar into a single bar. With this merger, legal professionals across the nation are able to affiliate and get certifications without any hassle. Steven Malama was a close friend of Dr. Rajan Mahtani and as a result, Dr. Rajan Mahtani decided to honour his contributions by establishing the award on his name.

The Steven Malama award was instituted in the year 2012 via Finance Bank Zambia wherein Dr. Mahtani holds the position of the Chairman. The inaugural award was given for the year 2013. Dr. Rajan Mahtani also announced during the inauguration award that it will be given every year. The recipient of the award includes top graduating student from the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education. Furthermore, the top graduating student is also required to qualify for bar in their first attempt to be eligible for the award. For the year 2018-19, the award was received was Emmanuel Bwalya Kaluba. After receiving this award, Emmanuel wrote an article to thank Dr. Rajan Mahtani and this article was published by the Daily Mail. In this article, Dr. Mahtani was commended for his significant contributions towards generating awareness of legal education system in Zambia. The award was also helpful in enhancing motivation among the students so that they work harder for the award. Furthermore, the award carries a plaque, certificate and prize money worth K15,000. This prize money has been helpful in providing significant financial help for many less privileged students from the institution.

Zambezi Portland Cement

Dr. Mahtani’s Next Challenge After Winning Portland Cement Case Is To Revive The Factory

The final verdict on the long-pending Portland Cement case is out. This final and definitive verdict came from higher Court of Appeal on 31st January 2019 after nine months of gruelling case proceedings at the court. Unlike the previous court, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal made an extremely transparent decision system wherein all evidences, testimonials and other factual details were evaluated in a transparent manner. During this decision, the evidences, testimonials and other details which helped in arriving at the decision were shared to the media and the public.

It was found that Dr. Rajan Mahtani gave Portland Cement Zambia limited an amount of one billion Kwacha via his company Finsbury Investments, equivalent to USD 250,000. This amount was shared officially for covering the share capital value of the ZPC shares which Dr. Rajan Mahtani took over. The second major evidence was the original Shareholders’ Agreement which was established on 26th February 2007, around two years after the initial exchange between Dr. Rajan Mahtani and Portland Cement Zambia limited. As per the details found in the agreement, page number 663 clearly established the fact that Dr. Rajan Mahtani made the payment for taking over 58 percent shares of the Portland Cement Zambia factory and he is further not liable for any more payments associated with the case.

Several unethical and improper claims were also thrashed by the higher Court of Appeal judge. For instance, the claim of forgery were discarded as it was found that the process of electronically affixing signatures was a common practice at the Zambezi Portland Cement factory. It was also found that critical member of the Ventriglia family, Claudio Ventriglia, engaged in similar practice and as a result, all forgery related allegations were discarded. While the judgement did take significant time, it was truthful and transparent at the end. While giving the final judgement, justice Mwinde also said that the judge below him was wrong in not giving Dr. Mahtani the true justice which he deserved.

After Lusaka High Court’s Failure, Court Of Appeal Comes To Rescue Portland Cement Case

Portland Cement Zambia, as a manufacturing company, has faced several challenges and issues of its own. The official statistics clearly indicate that with change in leadership, the company’s operations changed dramatically too. During the time Dr. Rajan Mahtani was in-charge and in leadership position at the Portland Cement Zambia, the cement-manufacturing factory significantly improved in terms of productivity, operational efficiency and overall performance. It quickly became one of the top producers of Portland Cement across the town and started gaining significant national following. The manufacturing facility also became a known employer for providing above-industry wages and salaries for its people. However, all these achievements and efficiencies started to downgrade when the factory was unethically taken over from Dr. Rajan Mahtani. This unethical takeover not only disrupted the overall operations of the factory but also impacted its long-term survival and growth changes. At one side, Dr. Rajan Mahtani continuously fought for the legal takeover of the factory across different courts. On the other hand, the factory’s performance decline continuously due to lack of appropriate leadership, negligence of those who captured the factory unethically as well as lack of any urgency towards revival of the factory.

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani fought for the case for more than a decade and finally received justice in the year 2019 from higher Court of Appeal. It was justice Mwinde who announced the final decision on the case on 31st January 2019. Unlike the misdirected decision of the previous court, the Court of Appeal gave its final verdict only after evaluating all evidences and testimonials submitted by the parties associated with the case. Some of the major evidences which helped in arriving at the final verdict at the higher Court of Appeal were the proof of transfer of one billion kwachas from Finsbury Investments to the Portland Cement Zambia which covered the entire value of the share capital; and the original shareholder’s agreement established in the year 2007. Based on these decisions, final verdict announced that Dr. Mahtani is only majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory.

Struggle For Dr. Mahtani For Portland Cement Over, Next Struggle Is Reviving The Cement Factory

For prominent businessman and philanthropist Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani, one part of the struggle has ended. This struggle started more than a decade ago when Dr. Rajan Mahtani had registered a case at the Lusaka High Court claiming this his factory was unethically taken over from him. Then started one of the biggest court-room battle between Dr. Rajan Mahtani and the court itself. The case of Portland Cement Zambia can be easily considered as a case between Dr. Rajan Mahtani and the justice system of Zambia. Despite having all important evidences, testimonials and other details associated with the case, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was not given justice as the final judgement went against his claims. On top of that, this was after more than a decade of fighting for justice at the Lusaka High Court.

Rather than giving in to this unethical judgement and accepting it as his fate, Dr. Mahtani chose to continue his fight. He then approached the higher Court of Appeal with his evidences and testimonials. The judge at the higher Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde who gave the ultimate decision on the case on 31 January 2019. The evidences clearly confirmed that Dr. Mahtani paid one billion kwachas to Zambezi Portland Cement limited for covering the 58 percent shares at the factory and getting majority ownership legally. This payment was further confirmed by the original agreement between shareholders which was established in the year 2007. In the page number 662 of this shareholders’ agreement it is clearly established that Dr. Rajan Mahtani has made all payments associated with the majority shares takeover of the factory and based on this understanding, it is confirmed that Dr. Mahtani is the actual owner of the factory.

While justice Mwinde has duly confirmed that Dr. Mahtani is actual owner of the factory, the struggle for Dr. Rajan Mahtani is not over, as the factory needs to be revived to its original glory.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s win at Court of Appeal

Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s win at Court of Appeal comes after significant challenges & roadblocks

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani has finally won the curious and dragged case of Zambezi Portland Cement. However, this win comes after a lot of patience, sacrifice and loss for Dr. Rajan Mahtani. The Zambezi Portland Cement case was originally registered at the Lusaka High Court by Dr. Rajan Mahtani after claiming the illegal takeover of the factory. During the initial case proceedings only, the lawyers from Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s end shared all evidences and documents that were more than enough to prove his legal ownership over the factory. However, almost all of these evidences were ignored and the case ultimately dragged for more than a decade. There goes the patience. After that Dr. Rajan Mahtani rightly approached the higher Court of Appeal for justice.

Justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher court of Appeal announced final decision on 31st January 2019. This judgement was quick and was given within a time period of around nine months from re-appealing to the Court of Appeal. Therefore, it can be said that patience and perseverance of Dr. Mahtani paid off ultimately. On behalf of the Court of Appeal, justice Mwinde declared that Dr. Rajan Mahtani paid one billion kwachas or USD 250000 to the ZPC limited which covered the total value of share capital which Dr. Mahtani took over. The documents presented by the lawyers including the shareholders’ agreement of 2007 further confirmed this financial transaction and also clarified that Dr. Mahtani was not liable to any further costs which may occur.

However, all these came a little too late for Dr. Rajan Mahtani as the condition of the Zambezi Portland Cement after it was rightly handed over to Dr. Mahtani is miserable. The factory production has diminished significantly and the factory suffered significant loss. This is a loss for Dr. Rajan Mahtani too but he is positive that with hard work and patience he will be able to bring the factory back to its former glory.

Zambezi Portland Cement Case To Court Of Appeal, Final Decision Given By Judge

The latest results from the Court of Appeal can be considered as a slow but steady progress by the Zambian justice and legal system towards transparency and ethical decision making. With this decision from the Court of Appeal, the faith, patience and perseverance in the Zambian justice system has been once again preserved. This case pertains to Zambezi Portland Cement, a noted cement manufacturing factory which was contested by two major business parties in Zambia. These are Dr. Rajan Mahtani and the Ventriglias. While Dr. Rajan Mahtani is known for his transparent and ethical business practices as well as successful business ventures, the Ventriglias are infamous for their unethical activities and using power to turn things around their way.

Zambezi Portland Cement

After the judge from the Lusaka High Court failed to provide any justice to Dr. Rajan Mahtani and his decade long patience, the case was again approached to the Court of Appeal. Here the judge was Justice Mwinde and he announced the final decision on 31st January 2019. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is the majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement with 58 percent shares. On the other hand, Ital Terrazzo Limited which is owned by the Ventriglias holds 42 percent shares and is the minority shareholder of the cement factory. According to this shareholding pattern, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is clearly the legal owner of the Zambezi Portland Cement and winner of the case. This decision from the Court of Appeal also aligns with the original shareholders agreement which was established in the year 2006.

By giving this judgement, Justice Mwinde effectively reversed the judgement by Lusaka High Court. He also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders without having any evidence or proof. Furthermore, the court has provided timeline of three months for completing the share regularization process.