Dr. Rajan Mahtani is a happy man now. After more than a decade of fight, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was given true justice when Court of Appeal announced its final decision on the Portland Cement Zambia case. This decision came on 31st January 2019, more than a decade after the case was initially launched at the Lusaka High Court. Dr. Rajan Mahtani himself had registered a case at the Lusaka High Court claiming that the factory was illegally taken over from him. However, the Lusaka High Court gave a controversial decision by announcing Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement. This was followed by Dr. Rajan Mahtani approaching the Court of Appeal.
The judge at the Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde who gave the final decision on 31st January 2019, around nine months after the case was registered there. Based on this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments holds 58 percent shares at the factory and are the majority shareholders of the factory. On the other hand, Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds just 42 percent shares at the factory and are the minority shareholders without any legal ownership over the factory. This decision from the Court of Appeal aligned with the original shareholders agreement established in the year 2007.
By giving this decision, the judge from the Court of Appeal effectively reversed the judgement from the Lusaka High Court. Furthermore, justice Mwinde from the Court of Appeal also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as the only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement as this decision was misdirected and against the interests of the public policies.