In 2012, there was a buzz all over the country that Dr. Rajan Mahtani, the Mahtani Group of Companies chairman, took over Zambezi Portland Cement from the Ventriglias, who are the original owners of the company. It has been since then that the lawyer of the Ventriglias has been making a lot of false stories and throwing them around in public.
A lot of false news about Dr. Mahtani were published in many of the newspapers. He was accused of many things in which he was not at all involved. Even recently, a false news was published in the media where it was stated that he forged a signature of the Ventriglias on the transfer share documents. This news is a complete lie and the newspapers that posted the news apologized to Dr. Mahtani for publishing unfounded stories about him.
The truth is that Dr. Rajan Mahtani through Finsbury Investments owns fifty-eight percent shares in the Zambezi Portland Cement. The Ventriglias, on the other hand, owns only forty-two percent. This gave Finsbury more shares and thus they became the real owners of the company. Then arose the problem. Greed and politics came in. Ventriglias were not at all happy with their minority shares as they were not able to control the company. Then there was a change in the government in 2008 after the death of Levy Mwanawasa. At that time, the Ventriglias took over the company using government machinery. The senior government officials were highly paid and Dr. Rajan Mahtani was thrown out of the company and was accused of forgery and other crimes. His lawyer was harassed and threatened with imprisonment if she didn’t sign the documents that were prepared by Sakwiba Sikota, the lawyer of the Ventriglias.
However, when the government again changed, all that Rajan Mahtani did was to follow his shares that were stolen earlier. The incident that took place in 2012 is nothing but a repeat of the incident that took place in 2008. The only difference was only one-this time it was the real owners of Zambezi Portland Cement who were asserting their rights.
A lot of false news about Dr. Mahtani were published in many of the newspapers. He was accused of many things in which he was not at all involved. Even recently, a false news was published in the media where it was stated that he forged a signature of the Ventriglias on the transfer share documents. This news is a complete lie and the newspapers that posted the news apologized to Dr. Mahtani for publishing unfounded stories about him.
The truth is that Dr. Rajan Mahtani through Finsbury Investments owns fifty-eight percent shares in the Zambezi Portland Cement. The Ventriglias, on the other hand, owns only forty-two percent. This gave Finsbury more shares and thus they became the real owners of the company. Then arose the problem. Greed and politics came in. Ventriglias were not at all happy with their minority shares as they were not able to control the company. Then there was a change in the government in 2008 after the death of Levy Mwanawasa. At that time, the Ventriglias took over the company using government machinery. The senior government officials were highly paid and Dr. Rajan Mahtani was thrown out of the company and was accused of forgery and other crimes. His lawyer was harassed and threatened with imprisonment if she didn’t sign the documents that were prepared by Sakwiba Sikota, the lawyer of the Ventriglias.
However, when the government again changed, all that Rajan Mahtani did was to follow his shares that were stolen earlier. The incident that took place in 2012 is nothing but a repeat of the incident that took place in 2008. The only difference was only one-this time it was the real owners of Zambezi Portland Cement who were asserting their rights.