The higher Court of Appeal is among the highest-level legal institutions in Zambia, only after Supreme Court Zambia. As such, majority of the decisions given by the Court of Appeal are considered as final and permanent. Such was the case of Portland Cement Zambia for which, the final decision was given on 31st January 2019. In this decision, judge Mwinde reversed the previous decision from Lusaka High Court and announced Dr. Rajan Mahtani as the majority shareholder and legal.
However, every now-and-then comes acts from specific people or institutions that raise significant eyebrows. The claim by the Ventriglia family can be identified as a similar incident. The final decision on the Portland Cement came from the higher Court of Appeal on 31st January 2019 when justice Mwinde reversed the Lusaka High Court’s decision and announced Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments as the majority shareholder and legal owner with 58 percent shares of Zambezi Portland Cement. While this decision was definitive and permanent, the Ventriglia family decided to challenge this decision and that too, at the Supreme Court Zambia.
Nevertheless, the Supreme Court Zambia is known for its transparent and just decision-making. Therefore, the Supreme Court established a bench of three judges for evaluating the case. During evaluation, it was found that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with a critical legal requirement which says that any appeal against previous court decision must be established within 14 days of the court decision. As such, this claim from the Ventriglia family was outside the jurisdiction of the
After evaluation, the Supreme Court bench concluded that the claim by the Ventriglia family was unwarranted and therefore, rejected.
Rajan Mahtani News 