Speedster may ‘donate’ Lambo to police so they can catch up
● A maverick Cape Town businessman who was caught driving a R3-million car at breakneck speed this week says he is considering donating two Lamborghinis to the city’s elite traffic unit.
The “ghost squad” arrested George van der Riet, a strip-club owner and foreign-exchange trader, driving a Lamborghini without registration plates at more than 250km/h on the N1 in the early hours of Monday. He is charged with reckless and negligent driving as well as defeating the ends of justice. JP Smith, the mayoral committee member for safety and security, described the incident as “yet another example of the absolute disdain some road-users have for the rule of law”.
“I am not sure how anyone thinks driving at such high speed on a public road is acceptable under any circumstances,” said Smith.
But Van der Riet, 41, accused the traffic officers of unprofessional behaviour. He told the Sunday Times one of the officers “pretended to race with me and when I got far away he put on the blue lights”.
The businessman said his car had no registration plates because he had just bought it. At the time of his arrest it was festooned with stickers advertising his strip club.
“I do not deserve to be treated like crap because I drive nice cars,” he said. “It is not true that my Lambo, which does over 300km/h with ease, was cut off by a little Golf that can hardly do 250km/h on an open road. They were chasing me like hijackers and I left them.”
He said the officer who arrested him acted like a “maniac” and he was worried he might shoot him because he “couldn’t keep up with the Lambo”. He was locked up for 20 hours and lost a lot of money as he could not trade.
“What would you do if you are in a R3-million car and three black cars with tinted windows are chasing you?”
Van der Riet said he was often asked where he found the money for his fleet of supercars. “I own the best electronic music club on the continent,” he declared. “I also own a strip club in Bellville. I retired at the age of 30 . . . I traded in forex.
“I want to be clear; I have tremendous respect for our police in general and am even considering donating a Lambo or two to the ghost squad so they can catch faster cars.”
The website of one of his businesses, Global Forex Institute, says Van der Riet “has always lived on the edge, [with] fast exotic cars, wild parties and all the excesses that come with the huge pay enjoyed by successful forex traders”.
He is due in court next month and the officers are expected to produce footage of the incident.