According to the final verdict at the Court of Appeal which took place on 31st January 2019, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani was identified as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. This decision came around nine months after registering the case at the Court of Appeal. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani was announced majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. This decision came after the judge at the Court of Appeal evaluated several evidences and testimonials associated with the case.
One of the major evidences associated with the case was that Dr. Mahtani made a monetary transaction of one billion kwachas or USD 250,000 to the Zambezi Portland Cement in exchange for 58 percent shares of the factory. The original Shareholders Agreement established in the year 2007 further clarified this transaction by announcing that Dr. Mahtani has covered all costs associated with the share transfer of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
Furthermore, it was also identified that the process of electronically affixing signatures for business transactions was a common practice in Zambia and it was also found that the critical member of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory, Claudio Ventriglia, engaged in similar practice. As a result, this practice was considered to be completely valid and the fraud related charged were discarded. The case also conducted due diligent search and it was found that the laws associated with PTT (Property Transfer Tax) suggested that the responsibility pf PTT goes to the transferor or the vendor and the transferee or the purchaser.
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