The Zambian Supreme Court can be described as the highest legal authority of the nation and as a result, verdicts announced by the Supreme Court are considered as final and definitive. As such, it was surprising to see the Ventriglias approach the Supreme Court with their peculiar case. It is a public knowledge that the higher Court of Appeal announced Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory on 31st January 2019. Finsbury Investments received 58 percent shares and the amount payable against majority shares was confirmed at K580,000.
After almost two years of this definitive judgement from the higher Court of Appeal, the Ventriglia family once again decided to disrupt the Zambezi Portland operations by registering a case at the Supreme Court Zambia. To evaluate this case, the Supreme Court Zambia established a bench of three judges. These included Michael Musonda, Royda Kaoma and Mumba Malila. After the initial investigation, it was found that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with a critical requirement of the law. In order to register appeal against previous court decisions, it is important to register the appeal within fourteen days of the verdict itself. Since the verdict from the higher Court of Appeal came on 31st January 2019, the timeline for registering their appeal for the Ventriglias was by 14th of February 2019. However, the Ventriglias failed to comply with the same and as a result, the case was dismissed due to lack of legal imperative. The Supreme Court judges effectively rejected the appeal by the Ventriglias and further confirmed that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Zambezi Portland factory.
Rajan Mahtani News 