Zambia is a developing nation within the continent of Africa. The country does not boast many businesses or a good economy. As a result, very few businesses try to establish their market here. Those who do, face several administrative and bureaucratic roadblocks coming in the way of their progress. Zambia has very few noted businessmen and industrialists and Dr. Rajan Mahtani is one of them. He has been working in Zambia for more than three decades and during this, have managed to successful built his business empire. Some of his top companies are Mahtani Group of Companies, Finsbury Investments and Finance Bank Zambia.
Another company for which Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been fighting for a long time is Zambezi Portland Cement. The case was first registered at the Lusaka High Court where it went on for ten years. This long stretch was due to several factors such as lack of proper court proceedings, unavailability of the parties as well as several transfers of the judges. Even after these roadblocks, the final judgement given by the Lusaka High Court judge was not worthy. The judge overlooking the case was Justice Nkonde and he said that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory. This prompted Dr. Mahtani to take the case to the Court of Appeal.
On 31st January 2019, the Court of Appeal announced its judgement. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the majority shareholder as his company Finsbury Investments owns 58 percent shares at the factory. On the other hand, Ventriglias are the minority shareholders as their company Ital Terrazzo Limited owns 42 percent shares at the factory. This shareholding pattern clearly confirms that Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is the legal owner of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory.
Discarding all allegations of forgery, the judge at the Court of Appeal gave a timeline of three months for completing the process of share regularization as per new decision by the court