Oakbay, a South African investment company owned by Gupta brothers, business friends of President Jacob Zuma on Monday announced its intention to sell off its media stakes in order to prove itself “not guilty” of the ‘influence peddling’ allegation leveled on the company.
The company said it would sell its stake in ANN7 for 300 million rands ($22.74 million) and its holdings in the New Age for 150 million rands, to privately held Lodidox, a company controlled by former government spokesman Mzwanele Manyi.
According to the company, this action was taken in order for stakeholders of the company to be able to focus on clearing their names amidst allegation.
In May, investigative journalists at AmaBhungane, a non-profit group that has a strong track record of exposing what it says are government corruption scandals, started releasing some of more than 100,000 leaked emails and documents saying that the documents show Gupta-owned companies unduly influence the awarding of government contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Atul Gupta, one of the three Gupta brothers has said the leaked emails are fake.
