Cape Town, Aug 28 (IANS): Implicated in a corruption scandal, the wealthy Indian Gupta family on Saturday announced its intention to sell all of its shareholding in South Africa by the end of the year.

"We are already in discussions with several international prospective buyers and will soon be in a position to make further announcements," Xinhua quoted the family as saying.

"We believe that this decision is in the best interests of our business, the country and our colleagues," said a statement by the family.

With huge business interests in South Africa and close ties with President Jacob Zuma, the Gupta family has been accused of "state capture" by influencing Zuma in the appointment of cabinet ministers. The family, however, denied the accusation.

Following the scandal that rocked South Africa, the family decided to step down from all executive and non-executive positions in all their South African business in April 2016.

Ever since, the local management team has grown the Gupta's businesses from strength to strength, with turnover and profits showing good growth and more jobs created, said the statement.

"As a family, we now believe that the time is right for us to exit our shareholding of the South African businesses which we believe will benefit our existing employees and lead to further growth in the businesses," it said.