---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
  - Person
  - BCCI
  - CIA
summary: "The Gokal brothers, Abbas Gokal, Murtaza Gokal, and Mustafa Gokal, were Pakistani businessmen who ran the Gulf Group, a London-based shipping company."
relations:
  - type: head_of
    with: "[[Gulf Group]]"
    fn: 1
  - type: investigated
    with: "[[Serious Fraud Office]]"
    reverse: true
    start: 1992-09
    fn: 5
---

The Gokal brothers, [[Abbas Gokal]], [[Murtaza Gokal]], and [[Mustafa Gokal]], were [[Pakistan|Pakistani]] businessmen who ran the [[Gulf Group]], a [[London]]-based shipping company.[^1] They were closely associated with [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] and the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], and, according to the journalists Jonathan Beaty and S. C. Gwynne, were BCCI's largest debtor.[^1]

### Business Operations and BCCI Connections

The Gokal brothers used BCCI money to build their shipping empire, chartering more ships in one year than [[China]] and [[India]] combined during their heyday.[^2] Their loans from BCCI topped out at $831 million in 1990 and were never repaid, contributing significantly to BCCI's financial problems.[^2]

Mustafa Gokal was named Pakistan's minister for shipping, a position facilitated by Abedi, highlighting the intertwined relationship between BCCI and the Pakistani government.[^3] The Gokal brothers were also used by BCCI as a front for various transactions, including an attempt to acquire Chelsea National Bank in [[New York City]] in 1975.[^4]

### Prosecution

The [[Serious Fraud Office]] opened its inquiry into BCCI's loans to the Gulf Group in September 1992. The brothers, then based in [[Geneva]], left for Pakistan, which had no extradition treaty with Britain, before Swiss police raided the group's offices. Abbas Gokal was arrested at a refuelling stop in [[Frankfurt]] on July 18, 1994, while flying to New York, and in November 1994 he agreed to extradition; British arrest warrants had also been issued for Mustafa and Murtaza.[^5][^6] After a 122-day trial at the [[Old Bailey]], Abbas was convicted in April 1997 of conspiracy to account falsely and conspiracy to defraud, and on May 8, 1997, he was sentenced to fourteen years; prosecutors put the fraudulent loans at 1.2 billion dollars.[^5][^7]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 9.
[^2]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 139-140.
[^3]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 315.
[^4]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 11.
[^5]: "On the trail of Gokal," *Accountancy Age,* May 23, 1997. https://accountancyage.com/1997/05/23/on-the-trail-of-gokal/
[^6]: Saadawi, Danah. "BCCI chief debtor agrees to extradition," United Press International, November 2, 1994. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/11/02/BCCI-chief-debtor-agrees-to-extradition/2453783752400/
[^7]: "Gokal sentenced to 14 years for BCCI fraud," *The Irish Times,* May 9, 1997. https://www.irishtimes.com/business/gokal-sentenced-to-14-years-for-bcci-fraud-1.70650