Having racked up almost seven decades' worth
of of competition, Formula 1 has naturally
witnessed the rise and fall of many weird and
wonderful individuals. While we are legally
obliged to note that most of the people who
pass through the sport are upstanding sorts, in
possession of their mental faculties and all the
correct paperwork, it is also fair to say that
there have been a dubious few whose motives
and methods were not entirely honest.
Among the most interesting characters to tread
the grand prix paddock was Prince Malik Ado
Ibrahim, a man whose true reasons for
immersing himself in grand prix racing are still
not entirely clear almost 20 years after his
involvement both began and ended.
Let us travel back to 1999, a time when Lewis
Hamilton was still racing go-karts and Bernie
Ecclestone was a youthful 66-year-old. This
was the season in which McLaren legend Mika
Hakkinen secured his second world title for the
Woking-based squad, though Eddie Irvine
pushed him hard for it. We are more interested
in what was happening at the back of the grid,
however. Then as now, there was a struggling
team with a striking orange and black livery
and uncompetitive motors. Whereas in 2017
that team is McLaren, in 1999 it was Arrows.
By the late nineties Arrows were grand prix
stalwarts of more than 20 years. Despite their
longevity the team had not won a race and had
been through their fair share of financial woes
and ownership changes, including a stint under
the stewardship of a Japanese logistics
company. (It was during this spell that they
fielded Taki Inoue, a man most famous for
being hit by a course car on two separate
occasions).
In 1996 they were purchased by racing stalwart
Tom Walkinshaw, who pulled of an incredible
coup by signing reigning world champion
Damon Hill for the 1997 season. Though Hill
came within a few kilometres of winning the
Hungarian Grand Prix, the relationship was
largely unsuccessful – not to mention
expensive for the team – and the Englishman
jumped ship for Eddie Jordan's outfit at the
end of the year. In 1998 they returned to
relative anonymity and continued to struggle
financially.

But for 1999 there would be fresh investment
from a mysterious African royal. Step forward
Prince Malik.
Malik was educated privately in Britain, though
no one is quite certain where, and claimed to
be a prince of the Igbira people. It is likely that
this was true, though given that there are at
least 75 different royal families in his native
Nigeria it's not quite the same as William
Windsor showing up at the factory gates and
promising to sink some of granny's money into
your F1 team. Malik also claimed to have
contested the Le Mans 24 Hours, which though
not impossible lacks anything by way of proof.
Honest or not, Arrows found him difficult to
ignore. Malik was promising an investment of
some $125 million, which at the time could
have transformed the team's fortunes, allowing
them to sign better drivers and pay for
competitive engines. Walkinshaw duly accepted
and Malik came on board for 1999. He'd
convinced banking giants Morgan Grenfell to
help him in the deal, which gave him
somewhere between 10 and 30 per cent of the
team (numbers vary too much to be certain).
The 1999 Arrows was aesthetically striking,
with the rear half retaining the previous
season's black and white livery and the front
painted bright orange in deference to Repsol,
who sponsored new signing Pedro de la Rosa.
These days it is considered to be something of
a cult classic, though this has nothing to do
with its on-track performances.

This did not seem to concern Malik, who
proceeded to hire a pricey PR agency that he
set the task of making him "as famous as
Eddie Jordan". But while he was undoubtedly
an attention seeker, Malik was not planning to
simply sit on the pitwall and enjoy the perks of
his investment. He claimed that he would raise
funds through the creation of the T-Minus
brand, which first appeared on the car's
sidepods at the San Marino Grand Prix (there
had previously been a strange countdown motif
in its place). T-Minus planned to make money
by launching an energy drink and selling re-
branded products such as clothing and
motorcycles. The fact that you have never
heard of it should be a clue to its eventual
success; the veteran F1 journalist Joe Saward
later reported that T-Minus 'raised absolutely
no money.' (However, it is worth pointing out
that the author of this piece still has a can of
the energy drink in a box somewhere,
unopened, retained for posterity).
It wasn't just the business plan that didn't
work: performances on the circuit were woeful,
too. A high attrition rate allowed De la Rosa to
score a point on his F1 debut – a distinction
he shares with rather more illustrious names
like Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel – but
the Spaniard did not repeat the result all year.
His teammate, the enigmatic Japanese driver
Toranosuke "Tiger" Takagi, fared even worse.
Ultimately, they scored only a single point in
1999.
By late in the season, with the reality of the
situation dawning on the team, Malik was
suddenly nowhere to be found. When he failed
to complete the purchase of his shares by a
pre-arranged September deadline, Tom
Walkinshaw effectively retook control of the
them and the T-Minus branding vanished from
the car (replaced by Morgan Grenfell, who had
backed Malik's purchase and eventually took
Arrows to court). The Prince had left the
paddock.
The rather sad postscript to this is that Arrows
never really recovered from the false promise
of investment. They soldiered on for another
two and a half years, but ultimately shut their
doors during the 2002 season. Walkinshaw's
racing business also took a considerable hit;
the man himself died in 2010, aged 64.
But while Arrows vanished from the racing
scene, Malik did not. In 2008 he was in court
on charges of stealing money that was given to
him to develop the career of young NASCAR
driver. Malik was cleared, but was not able to
leave the Texas jail where he was being held
as he was required to post bail of $35,000 in
connection with a number of perjury charges for
false statements he allegedly made during the
lead up to his trial.

In January 2010 he was working for renewable
energy company The Bridge, of which he was
co-founder; a warrant was issued for his arrest
after a Texan district attorney received claims
that Malik had stolen over $200,000 during his
probationary period. The outcome of this trial
is not readily available, though as of 2017 he
remains a mover in Nigeria's sustainability
sector, working for Nigus Greenenergy.
What was Malik doing in F1? It is possible that
he truly believed he could make the T-Minus
venture work, that enough people would be
willing to buy expensive motorcycles with the
name of a brand they had never heard of
emblazoned across the side. It is possible, too,
that he simply fancied spending some time in
the glamorous world of Formula 1, that he
dreamed of strolling the grid with royalty and
A-listers at the Monaco Grand Prix. Or perhaps
his motives were more sinister; we cannot
know, because Malik has never discussed his
time in the sport. What we can take away from
this story is the enduring truth of an old adage:
if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.


https://www.vice.com/en_asia/article/d7qw8q/the-mysterious-nigerian-prince-who-scammed-his-way-into-owning-an-f1-team


My Take...

*He's the guy that's about to marry an indimi(hope say problem no go bust out)

*Why do Nigeria(home and abroad) always end up in mess like this.

lalasticlala take over

Okay

If only we as Nigerians could channel our smartness to something positive... Malik could have made us proud

Interesting read

Oyinbo people mumu for 199ties


DEM STILL MUMU till now

It is because of Lugard lord