Selwyn Vaughn, a professed former member of confessed drug trafficker Roger Khan’s “Phantom gang” yesterday said that he had provided a safe house in Agricola for the infamous Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins.
He made the statement in a Brooklyn, New York court yesterday, as he continued his testimony in the trial of Robert Simels, Khan’s former lawyer, who is being tried for witness tampering. Capitol News reported that the prosecution witness was on the stand for the second day.
According to the report, the jury heard a tape recording in which Vaughn contradicted an assertion that Simels made that a relative of former Army major David Clarke nursed Rawlins back to health. The witness who knew that Simels was in constant contact with Khan stated that Khan would be able to confirm that he (Vaughn) kept Rawlins in a safe house in Agricola during the period when local police were on the hunt for him and when Rawlins was injured. Rawlins was shot dead in a Joint Services operation last year.
Rawlins was in a house provided by me, Vaughn told the court, according to Capitol News. He was not in Buxton and he (Vaughn) was the only one who had access to him in that house, “something that Roger (Khan) himself would be able to confirm“, the witness stated in sworn testimony, according to the report. In telephone conversations played through his testimony, the former ‘Phantom Squad’ member continued to link government officials in Guyana with the Roger Khan case, in particular Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, the report stated.
Vaughn was the confidential source who helped the US government to implicate Simels and his associate Arienne Irving, who are jointly charged with plotting with Khan to threaten and bribe witnesses to prevent them from testifying in the case against Khan. In a transcript of recorded conversations with Simels, he had also previously named Ramsammy repeatedly. The Minister’s name was also on a list which included drug accused individuals, dead notorious criminals and present and past members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) that was to be included in a questionnaire for prospective jurors for Khan’s trial.
In March, Khan agreed to a guilty plea on charges of cocaine trafficking and witness tampering.