The Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) has updated its company filings for Zambezi Portland Cement Ltd (ZPC) to remove Rajan Mahtani as a listed shareholder after the controversial banker failed to produce original signed copies of share transfer certificates.
The change of records carried out by PACRA, as shown on documents signed and dated 7 August 2015, effectively brings to an end a seven-year long dispute between Mahtani and the true owners of ZPC, Manuela Sebastiani and Antonio Ventriglia.
The revised PACRA records for ZPC have reverted to the 2008 status quo, listing Antonio Ventriglia as owner of 850,000,000 shares and Manuela Sebastiani as owner of 170,000,000 shares, and removing the management illegally appointed by Mahtani in 2013. The records were corrected to remove Rajan Mahtani’s Finsbury Investments, which in the past had fraudulently claimed to own 58% of the shares without any proof of ownership. Under the Companies Act Cap 388, PACRA has the authority to revise company filings in the absence of the required documentation, which Finsbury Investments failed to provide despite repeated requests for more than seven years.
A spokesperson for ZPC management welcomed the move by PACRA:
“We are pleased and satisfied to finally see an accurate reflection of the company shareholding and management filed before the relevant authorities. For seven long years we have been fighting against this obscene act of corruption, as this individual abused his position and influence to attempt to carry out an illegal corporate raid of our company. For seven long years we have decried the fact that this individual used forged documentation and could not produce the original signed share transfer certificates to back up his fraudulent claim. Today, the truth finally prevails, and it should send a very positive message to the foreign investment community that our institutions are capable of defending property rights.”
The company spokesperson continued: “Rajan Mahtani owes an apology to the Zambian people for repeatedly attempting to mislead the public with knowingly false information when he has no basis to claim any ownership in this company. Given the reality on paper, Mahtani has exhausted his credibility among the Zambian business community and should be regarded with extreme caution.”
Mahtani, who was arrested on June 2, is currently awaiting trial on two counts of criminal forgery related to his falsification of ZPC documents.
SIGNED
MANAGEMENT OF ZAMBEZI PORTLAND CEMENT LTD
Any president who goes to bed with this crook is also a crook. Do you want me to list all such presidents?
Thy shall not tempt us the children of the most High GOD.