The case started when the cement factory was illegally taken over by the Ventriglias with the help of goons. Since then, the factory has been subjected to numerous tortures. The factory cash box has been wiped out and more than half of the workers have been laid off. Those who are still working have not received their payments for a long time. The assets are in a sorry state and the production is reduced to a bare minimum. These facts clearly state that the Ventriglias are in n intention of keeping the factory alive. As such, it is essential for the court to provide quick judgement and give the legal ownership and control of the factory to its rightful owner Dr. Mahtani. Then only the factory will have some hopes of recovering to its original position.
The case of Zamebzi Portland Cement is undoubtedly one of the longest running corporate cases across Zambia. The case incumbents are Dr. Rajan Mahtani, a noted businessman, philanthropist and charity worker and the Ventriglias, Italian family residing in the Zambia. Both have stark contract in their work philosophy, attitude and activities. Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been living in Zambia for many decades and is responsible for various successful businesses such as Mahtani Group of Companies and Finsbury Investments. Most of his companies and establishments have provided economic boost to the provinces and created opportunities of employment for its citizens and locals. His charitable contributions are also noted, such as funding NGOs (non-governmental organisations), environmental activities and social platforms. On the other hand, the Ventriglias are notoriously noted for their involvement in various notorious activities. The Ventriglias family own Ital Terrazzo Limited, a company whose businesses and profits are secretive.
The case started when the cement factory was illegally taken over by the Ventriglias with the help of goons. Since then, the factory has been subjected to numerous tortures. The factory cash box has been wiped out and more than half of the workers have been laid off. Those who are still working have not received their payments for a long time. The assets are in a sorry state and the production is reduced to a bare minimum. These facts clearly state that the Ventriglias are in n intention of keeping the factory alive. As such, it is essential for the court to provide quick judgement and give the legal ownership and control of the factory to its rightful owner Dr. Mahtani. Then only the factory will have some hopes of recovering to its original position.
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In a shocking revelation, the FIC (Financial Intelligence Centre) recently revealed the named of top lawyers from Zambia involved in a money laundering heist. It can be easily termed as one of the biggest money laundering heist discovered in Zambia involving prominent names from government and industry. The amount of money suspected in this illegal activity is almost USD 1 billion, which is staggering. It is shameful to see that at one side, Zambian citizens are suffering from poverty and hunger and on the other side; people at high position are abusing their power by engaging in illegal activities and getting away with it.
Among the lawyers under the radar, Masozi Banda from Avik International is topping the list. It is suspected that he is involved in laundering money worth more than USD 1 million. When confronted, he simply defended himself by saying that this money belongs to Edgar Lungu. Another noted name from the list was Sakwiba Sikota, the legal counsellor for the Ventriglias. The Ventriglias are notorious for their illegal activities such as taking over the Zambezi Portland Cement by force, from Dr. Rajan Mahtani. It is a well known fact that Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been fighting this case at the Lusaka High Court for almost 10 years now. This current news of money laundering and involvement of Sakwiba Sikota is somehow a silver lining for Dr. Mahtani and his team. If Sakwiba Sikota is found guilty of illegal money laundering, it is expected that his license will be dropped just like others and all his cases will be dissolved, giving Dr. Mahtani the legal rights to the factory. The Zambezi Portland Cement once used to be a productive unit for Ndola. The cement plant that had seen better days now stands as a mere premise of broken walls and empty space as the minority shareholders of the factory took turns to strip all the assets that the factory was possessing earlier. Ital Terrazzo Limited (ITL) took over the factory forcefully and then decided to steal all the wealth because they were no longer interested in running a factory that could generate USD 5 million monthly. After all, when you look at this matter from the perspective of a pirate you can easily make decide whether you want to work hard or just loot!
When it comes to determining the prosperity that Zambezi Portland Cement has added to the economy of Zambia, the contribution cannot go unnoticed. The cement plant is said to be the one that had ended the long reigning monopoly of Lafarge in Zambia. Not only in terms of cement cost, but also in terms of quality of cement. ZPC was more like a force that derived multiple benefits to Zambia and its people. On one hand, Zambia was becoming independent in terms of cement production and on the other hand, the people of Zambia were getting an employment opportunity whereby they can live a life of full of dignity and feed their families. But what did the plant get in return? The answer is betrayal! Ever since the plant was wrongfully from the hands of Finsbury Investment, the plant has been constantly ignored by the Government of Zambia. There hasn’t been any support from the officers to help the plant that once served thousands of people in Zambia financially and economically. The end-result is that the plant is now waiting to be demolished as its condition has reached beyond repairable. With enough being said from Zambia Reports and its bunch of coward writers, it is time to segregate the truth from the lies. Zambia Reports, as everybody knows it, has been constantly involved in helping the Ventriglias to loot the Portland Cement Zambia. They are a perfect example of sold media who are constantly looking for monetary gains and profits from running a defamation campaign. Whenever, the scenario turns hostile against the Ventriglias, they quickly ask ZR to divert the attention and in return, the writers take up the name of Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani and use the same to create a new story.
The process of defamation has been running on a loop from time immemorial. Every now and then, ZR comes with its own version of an event and then later on other news portals are required to dismiss the same and offering a befitting reply. As a matter of fact, it is not Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani who has been stealing funds from the factory cash box and transferring the assets of the factory to dummy companies. It is the Ventriglia family who has been doing all these shameful events and trying to suppress the innocent citizens. Hundreds of families have starved due to the Ventriglias and the Government has simply watched everything. We are at the end of 2014. This year has been a year with mixed emotions. On one hand, we saw various developments in Zambia that made us proud. On the other hand, we also saw some of the most heartbreaking events where we cried together and stood by one another. Now we are on the verge of welcoming a fresh year where we would begin with a hope to foster our developments and make a significant impact in the economy of Zambia. Dr. Rajan Mahtani, Chairman of Finance Bank Zambia made several contributions in the year 2014 which will bear fruitful results in 2015. On November 2014, a press conference was held by Dr. Mahtani where he announced that his bank has now become a public limited company and has been listed on the Lusaka Stock Exchange. The year 2015 will witness FBZ’s first share trading operations in the first quarter of the year itself. Another good news that the people of Zambia would get in 2015 is that FBZ will also be listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). This will make all of Zambia proud as FBZ would be the first of its kind to start share trade in the London Stock Exchange. The Zambezi Portland Cement Factory will also see some major developments in the production line as it was successful in increasing its production by 200 tonnes per day in 2014. The present output of Portland Cement Factory stands at 1300 tonnes of cement per day. With warm wishes and a hope for a better Zambia, we wish you a prosperous and a Happy New Year. In recent times, it has been witnessed that there are numerous rumors that claim the involvement of the Zambia Finance Bank Chairman, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani with the infamous group ‘Cartel’. The credit of these rumors mainly goes to an online news portal named as ‘Zambia Reports’ who are continuously publishing defamatory news against Rajan Mahtani. One of the most shocking claims of this group was connecting Dr. Mahtani with the Cartel.
On studying the type of news that Zambia Reports publishes for Dr. Mahtani easily allows a person to determine that this is nothing more than a malicious attempt to defame a personality. No matter what happens in Zambia, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is always shown as a culprit. Among many, the most disgracing news was convicting Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s alliance with the Cartel. According to the report published by Zambia Reports, Rajan Mahtani is linked with the Cartel and is serving as a perennial source of finance for them. For people who are unaware of the Cartel, it is a group of powerful people in Zambia who are looking forward to establish a parallel government in Zambia. When one goes by the stats, it becomes easier for the person to identify the type of person Dr. Mahtani is. Over the years, his contribution from Zambia has only increased. Right from operating the Finance Bank of Zambia to handling Zambezi Portland Cement Factory, he has worked hard to see the people of Zambia smile. He offers employment to thousands of people in Zambia along with educating young ones and establishing housing complex with better hygiene. In highlight of such contributions, it is obvious that the conspirators will try and pull him down. However, he has always overcome the scripted conspiracies with dignity and support of the locals. The headlines that are flooding the news these days in Zambia are that the Finance Minister has denounced the Finance Bank of Zambia Ltd., Chairperson Dr. Rajan Mahtani on account of operating the bank illegally. However, much remains to be decided as the root of this discussion is still unclear and unproved.
The link that has leaked this news is based on the consideration that there exists a drift between the Patriotic Front (PF) and the Post Newspaper. In such regard, the Finance Minister of Zambia, Alexander Chikwanda, is heard to be discussing some matters with Rajan Mahtani. As per the recorded tape which was produced before the High Court in Lusaka the discussion highlighted issues where the Finance Minister was unhappy with Mahtani because of he had breached the regulations of Banking and Financial Services Act. It is being portrayed that Mahtani illegally owns a majority of shares of the Finance Bank of Zambia Ltd. Additionally, more rift is produced when Alexander Chikwanda is heard stating that Rajan Mahtani pays the poorest to his employees. Irrespective of this concrete evidence, it is difficult to ascertain whether this discussion was actually in between Rajan Mahtani and Alexander Chikwanda or was another attempt by the opposition to defame Mahtani. In recent months, there have been a lot of instances where Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been convicted of guilt. However, every time investigation revealed a conspiracy against him. The latest was the conspiracy of fake email address which was created in the name of the accused and now investigation is due in order to find the culprit. In light of such affairs, it would be feasible for the authority to check for the originality of the evidence (record tape) produced and then move on to discuss about the corrupt side of Rajan Mahtani. News that floated couple of hours ago now stands as dismissed because of false claim and allegation. The much hiked affair about the Finance Bank of Zambia Ltd. (FBZ) seizing land from the Zambia national Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) is now dismissed by the Chairman of FBZ, Dr. Rajan Mahtani on the ground of being unfounded and is said to be intentionally created with intent to defame the respective Chairman.
The whole report came to life through an article which was published by ZNB in Zambia Reports and clearly states the actions to be manipulative towards injuring the reputation of the accused. A strong support in dismissal of this allegation comes in form of the reputation which the Finance Bank of Zambia owns at this moment. It is an establishment which is more than 25 years old and has been consistently helping the Government and the locals to bring about a radical difference in development of the nation Zambia. One of the most profound facts about this institution is that the Chairman doesn’t possess the power to lend under personal capacity and since, this the allegation was mainly related to improper fund management by Dr. Mahtani, the whole claim stands as pointless. However, the whole issue has been severely dealt and representatives have also gone to the extent of demanding the authenticity of relevant references which convinced the author of the article to put an allegation on Dr. Rajan Mahtani. Rajan Mahtani says there is nothing sinister about his takeover of Radisson Blu Hotel.
Dr Mahtani’s Finsbury Investments took possession of Hotellier Limited’s Radisson Blu Hotel this year following a Lusaka High Court judgment that sustained the hotel owners’ US$40 million indebtedness to Finance Bank Zambia Limited. The takeover, however, sparked speculation and accusations on Dr Mahtani. But in an interview, Dr Rajan Mahtani explained that the takeover was clean and was done through a legal battle with its previous owners. “The public need to know the truth. We fought the battle through a due process, through the courts of law. There was nothing sinister. We succeeded in proving that all the allegations that were made against us were false and documents [to show this] are in court, some of them already came out in the public domain,” he said. The High Court on May 7, delivered a judgment where Hotellier Limited was found liable to pay compound interest to Finance Bank at its overdraft rate for money that Hotellier had borrowed towards construction of the hotel. This was in a matter where Finance Bank and Finsbury Investments as plaintiffs sued Ody’s Works Limited, Odysseas Mandenakis Jr, Odysseas Mandenakis senior and Hotellier Limited as defendants for the monies they obtained from the bank to construct the Radisson Blu Hotel. Dr Mahtani said, “The total debts that were incurred [now] amount to roughly US$62 million; there aren’t sufficient assets.” “...but we have decided to step in to safeguard employment, to safeguard competition and the management contract which we have with Radison Blu will continue and we will look to further develop the area with expansion programe,” he said. “There are no negative changes [such as downsizing the workforce]. In fact, changes will be for the better like further increasing employment because of our desire to expand.” Meanwhile, Dr Mahtani said Zambia had established itself on the international market as a haven for investment and for doing business because of its strong judiciary and democracy. “It is a place where democracy prevails and where there is a good and strong judiciary,” he said. “A lot of international players look to those yardsticks when they invest funds.” Asked if there were any immediate threats to sustain the gains Zambia had made as a safe haven for investment, Dr Mahtani said, “Unfortunately, instead of Zambians concentrating on something more important to the economy, we tend to spend more time on the politics and that is what is a threat to the international [players].” “They look for stability [and yes] we are stable but if we could concentrate more of our time in building the economy and building a better Zambia for Zambians, we will find the achievements sustained a little longer,” he said. On Finance Bank, he said the bank had continued to be resilient and profitable. “The bank has performed very well. If you look at our financial results, they are outstanding,” he said. The bank, which Rupiah Banda’s administration briefly wrestled away from Mahtani, announced that its deposit base, which is an important measure of performance, had grown from K1.009 billion as at October 2011 to K2.048 billion as at March 31, 2014. Dr Mahtani said the bank was going ahead with its planned listing on Lusaka Stock Exchange this year. “The listing will be before 31st December and we are also listing on the Johannesburg [bourse],” he said. “Our expansion plans are also on. We are opening in Malawi in the next six weeks with three branches. Our head office will be in Lilogwe.” Bishop Mambo was recently accused of being an employee of Rajan Mahtani’s company. Evans Mulenga falsely reported in Zambia Reports that he is a person who has been given a good salaried position in Mahtani Group of Companies. The online publication claimed that he was appointed illegally to the board of ZPC. Bhisop John Mambo was never an employee of Mahtani Group of Companies. He is a renowned clergy man in Zambia. He is the man of God who preaches the word of Lord and has served as Church of Lord national overseer for about sixteen years. He is still serving the nation as a clergy man. The man has threatened Zambia Reports Dickson Jere and Evans Mulenga of filing a defamatory suit against them. He instructed his attorneys to sue them after they published the concocted story about him on 2nd July, 2014. The news has several malicious allegations against him. Have a look at the legal action taken by Bishop John Mambo against these crooks. Mr. Mambo told that Dickson Jere is a popular figure in Zambia not only because of the fact that he is associated with Zambia Reports but also because of his consistent malicious attacks on Dr. Rajan Mahtani, the chairman of Mahtani Group of Companies. Every Zambian who believes in God knows that Jere is a crook and is raking in good money by his malicious campaigns against Mr. Mahtani. The only difference this time was that he involved Bishop Mambo as well in his campaign.
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