The year 2020 has been the most difficult for mankind is more than a century of existence. Every last person on this planet felt the threat of Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic not only resulted in loss of significant lives, it also uprooted the economic and financial health of nations and pushed countries back decades in terms of economy. Zambia is a developing nation and the country too, faced the heat of the pandemic along with its several economic, social and political impacts. Businesses suffered heavily and even resulted in temporary or permanent shut down. However, Zambia saw helping hands from Dr. Rajan Mahtani in the form of several financial and non-financial contributions.
Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is one of the most respected and celebrated businessman in Zambia. Despite the several challenges and roadblocks of working in a developing nation such as Zambia, he has been able to achieve success in its business ventures with hard work, passion, perseverance, transparency and ethical stance. His faith in the legal and judiciary system of Zambia can be observed with the case of Portland Cement Zambia. The cement manufacturing factory was disputed by two significant parties in Zambia- Dr. Rajan Mahtani and the Ventriglia family. For more than a decade Dr. Rajan Mahtani fought for the factory’s legal takeover across two major courts- Lusaka High Court and Court of Appeal. While Lusaka High Court gave a controversial decision, it was Court of Appeal that announced a definitive decision on 31st January 2019. In this decision, Dr. Mahtani was announced as majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
After more than a year, the Ventriglia family decided to challenge this decision by approaching the Supreme Court. However, a bench of Supreme Court judges evaluated this appeal and found that the Ventriglia family missed the technical and legal aspects of the claim. This resulted in effective rejection of the case by the Ventriglia family.