The Supreme Court Zambia recently discarded an appeal which was made at the Supreme Court Zambia regarding the Portland Cement Zambia case. This appeal was made by the notorious Ventriglia family of Zambia. Despite the finalization of the Portland Cement factory case at the higher Court of Appeal, this controversial appeal was made at the Supreme Court Zambia. On 31st January 2019, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal made the final decision on the Portland Cement Zambia case. In this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments was given majority shareholding with 58 percent shares of the Portland Cement factory. On the other hand, the Ventriglia owned Ital Terrazzo Limited received just 42 percent shares and was announced as minority shareholder without any ownership over the factory. Based on this shareholding pattern as well as evidence from the original shareholders agreement, the verdict confirmed Dr. Rajan Mahtani as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
The Ventriglia family decided to challenge the very same decision at the Supreme Court Zambia. In their challenge, the Ventriglia family claimed that the decision made by the higher Court of Appeal was wrong. To evaluate this claim, the Supreme Court established a bench of three SC judges to evaluate this claim. These judges were judge Mumba Malila, Judge Michael Musonda and Judge Royda Kaoma. Together the judges came to the verdict that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with a critical legal requirement. This requirement states that any claim against previous court decision must be established within 14 days of the court judgement. However, the Ventriglia family registered their claim at the Supreme Court Zambia only after 1.5 years of Court of Appeal’s decision. Based on this technical detail alone, the case by the Ventriglia family was liable for rejection. The Supreme Court further evaluated the evidences presented and circumstances and gave the final verdict that the case must be rejected.