He was charged with defrauding the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) of US$1.2 billion and was the world's biggest single fraudster at the time.
[6] The Gokal family's relationship with BCCI founder and chairman, Hasan Abedi, dated back to the 1960s.
Due to the financial backing, the Gulf Shipping Lines controlled more than 240 vessels.
These sectors included commodities trading,[9] retailing, hotels, mining and real-estate.
It used to give out phoney loans, concealed deposits and hid their huge losses, which ran into billions of dollars.
The bank was alleged to hide and launder the money of dictators, drug lords, and even terrorists.
As the scandal was discovered, Swiss Police raided the Gulf Group head office in Geneva.
The Sheikh of Abu Dhabi (one of the main investors in the BCCI) himself lost £312 million to the Gulf Group's collapse.
When his plane had stopped for refuelling at Frankfurt, German police arrested him and had him extradited to the United Kingdom.
[6][14] Gokal was tried in May 1997 and found guilty of conspiring to funnel money out of the BCCI, which later contributed to the bank's collapse.
[20] One of his brothers, Mustafa Gokal, served as the financial advisor to President Zia-ul-Haq and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.
He was a greatly respected philanthropist and religious activist, and his loss was mourned by many across Iraq and the subcontinent.
The Gokal's were amongst the first Muslim families in the Indian subcontinent to rally behind Ayatollah Khomeini's banner, after the Islamic Revolution.