Roger Khan’s former attorney Robert Simels yesterday testified in a New York court that it was never his intention to harm any witness since such action would have helped the prosecution and he also said that Khan had told him he had bugged former Police Commissioner Winston Felix’s phone by connecting equipment directly to it.
According to Capitol News, Simels, while being cross-examined by the US prosecutor in the New York Court, said that he was never going to use the US’s informant Selwyn Vaughn as a witness although his client wanted him to do so. “Selwyn Vaughn accomplished nothing other than wasting my time” Simels told the Court. “I continued to listen to him because my client wanted me to listen”, he added. He opined that the informant Vaughn was making himself bigger than he is.
According to the New York Daily News last night, Simels was secretly taped by an informant discussing plans to “neutralize,” “eliminate” and “destroy” a witness cooperating with the government against his then-client Khan.
Testifying in his own defence yesterday in Brooklyn Federal Court, Simels, 62, insisted that those terms, as well as “kill the witness on cross-examination,” are not meant literally.
“I use them all the time and lawyers use them all the time,” Simels explained. “It’s part of the vernacular of being a lawyer”, the Daily News reported.
Dapper in a dark blue suit and yellow tie, Simels appeared relaxed on the stand as defence lawyer Gerald Shargel led him through questions about the tapes in which he discusses payoffs cloaked as “witness fees” and the prospect of making witnesses disappear.
“I didn’t think I was sanctioning harm; I didn’t think I was suggesting harm,” Simels said, adding that he “never” intended to bribe witnesses or persuade them to lie, the Daily News reported.
The Daily News said that Simels’ “considerable ego” was on show for the jury when he recalled besting a group of lawyers competing for the job of representing Khan – a process known as a “beauty contest”.
Simels contends the government is selectively prosecuting him because of his aggressive tactics of tracking down favourable defence witnesses in the U.S. and Guyana.
Simels was once a state prosecutor himself, investigating corrupt cops, judges and graft at the Bronx Terminal Market.
On the question of illegal eavesdropping equipment seized in his upper East Side office, Simels said the device had belonged to Khan and was inoperable when it was shipped to him from Guyana.
“We never wiretapped anyone,” he said. “I didn’t try to turn it on.”
Simels and Irving face up to life in prison if convicted of the charges.
Meanwhile, Simels, while being questioned by Shargel, admitted that Khan told him that he (Khan) had “hardwired”, former Commissioner of Police Felix. This was done by connecting equipment directly to the Police Chief’s telephone to eavesdrop on him, Simels stated. The disclosure about Felix’s phone being tapped had earlier raised serious concerns about the security of high offices.
According to Capitol News, Simels told the court that he found an informant in the Buxton area who provided information on links between army officials and criminals in Buxton. This informant, the court was told, lived in a nearby village and was planted by a Major of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to investigate/infiltrate the criminal gangs there. Simels said that the informant had information on army officials and how they were passing guns and ammunition to the “criminals in Buxton.”
Simels admitted that he had met in Guyana, a fugitive from both US and Guyanese justice. He said that this fugitive told him about drug transactions with a named individual and with a named GDF soldier in a different case. According to the attorney it was a Roger Khan lookalike and namesake, at least in title, who sold the drugs to these two persons, and not Roger Khan.
While being questioned by his own attorney, Simels told the court that he had written to President Bharrat Jagdeo asking for information on David Clarke and others who the attorney felt would testify against his client. The letter was dated August 28, 2008. According to Simels, he wanted documents from the military and the police of David Clarke, Davendra Persaud, Alicia Jagnarain and Donald Allison. He said that he wanted the police reports of Dave Persaud’s and Donald Allison’s deaths. Simels had said that his intention was to gather as much information as possible. The judge admitted the eight-page correspondence to President Jagdeo in a redacted version, where specific documents were requested of the Head of State.
Meanwhile, Simels said that he had promised to quit because Khan’s money was drying up. He, however, continued to pursue information on Khan’s case although there was a money problem.
The embattled attorney said that on the same day he wrote to President Jagdeo, he sent an email to Roger Khan’s brother in Florida. This memo began “Everyone is jumping off the ship”. Simels then proceeded to say that he was going to withdraw by the end of September of that year because all the money he was getting was going out to various other people other than to his office and himself.
Simels stated that he was about to write Judge Dora Irizarry to inform her that he wanted out of the case and that another attorney would take over. Simels complained that he had to send money to persons in Guyana including a local attorney-at-law and was getting nothing in return. The memo to Khan’s brother said, and “I am being told that the only way the deposition order will be signed by the Guyana court is for me to come and speak to the Oracle (said to be a local judicial official).”
The depositions, Simels was referring to in that correspondence, were testimonies that were supposed to have been done in a Guyana Court.
The court heard that Khan initially promised to pay fees of US$1.25M. Simels told the court he was paid US$1.2M by Khan and is owed US$1.45M. The fees included money for everything: all the representation, investigations, transcripts and trips.
The defence ended its presentation yesterday afternoon and the court will reconvene on Monday morning for the closing arguments. After the summation the jury will have to decide on Simels’ fate.