Few months back, the final judgment on the long-running Portland Cement Zambia case was announced at the Lusaka High Court. The cement-manufacturing factory was established by notable businessman and philanthropist Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani. After establishing the factory, Dr. Mahtani was able to take the factory to new heights with increased production and high salaries and wages. Just like his other successful entities, Portland Cement also become one of the biggest producers of quality cement within the Zambian nation. However, things changed drastically when the factory was illegally taken over.
It has been ten years since this illegal takeover of the factory and only few months back the final announcement on the Portland Cement’s case was given. However, this announcement by the Lusaka High Court Judge raised more questions than answers. Dr. Rajan Mahtani, during the case proceedings, shared numerous evidences and documents which were sufficient to prove his real ownership over the factory. Some of these documents were signed shareholder’s agreements, financial exhibits as well as independent audit report from the independent reports. This audit report clearly stated that the factory was established as a joint venture and Dr. Rajan Mahtani was the sole joint venture partner of the factory. Even the judge residing the case made a remarkable advancement in the case when after ten years of court proceedings it was announced that the case hearing is closed and the final judgment on the case will be announced soon. Both parties associated with the case were required to submit their evidences in oral and written forma and based on the analysis of these cases, the judge was supposed to announce the final verdict.
However, the final judgment came with shocking turn of events when the judge gave the final verdict against Dr. Rajan Mahtani. It was clear that the judgement was misdirected and influenced by external forces. However, Dr. Rajan Mahtani took the right step and has now approached the ‘Higher Court of Appeal’ regarding this misdirected judgment.