"Harmon is a good investigator and goes out of his way to please his clients. That makes him a person who can be relied on. If he envisages any difficulties, he is open and frank with the client. His reports are generally always accepted by the courts without question.

I can recall only one divorce case in which the judge was not convinced by his evidence. However, Harmon's evidence was upheld in a court of appeal and the divorce was granted.

When Harmon handles a case, the other party usually closes its files and is willing to talk.

I use his services for my cases and find him to be very meticulous. In one instance, I engaged his help when I was representing a French company in a commercial crime case involving suspected fraud.

He disguised himself and actually sieved through the garbage from the company's wastepaper baskets for evidence. He found enough evidence from the waste bins for us to prove our case. That is what sets him a pole apart from the next investigator."

MR PALAKRISHNAN, a well-known senior lawyer in Singapore

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"A good private investigator needs to have integrity and Harmon has a lot of integrity. I use him frequently to gather evidence for my cases and finds that he is also dedicated and diligent.

In one of my cases, a woman had engaged two private investigators in a row to get evidence of adultery by her husband who was working and staying in Indonesia. Both returned and said there was no evidence of adultery.

Harmon was the third to be engaged. He sent two of his staff to Indonesia and they returned with evidence. The couple divorced subsequently.

He has undertaken jobs for me in Thailand and Hongkong, always successfully. When you get his report, you feel very confident when you go to court with it. I also found he makes the most presentable report in terms of the account and photographs.

He has a heart: if my clients cannot afford to pay his rates, he charges a nominal fee or even accepts installments."

MRS CHUA SWEE KENG, lawyer specialsing in matrimonial cases.

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"I have known Harmon since 1961, soon after he joined the police force. We were together in Tanjong Pagar Police Station.

As a young lad, he was determined and had the stamina to go with it. He would protect his sources. Some criminals that he arrested and convicted told me later that Harmon used to visit their families while they were in prison and even helped them with money from his own pocket.

He kept in touch with gangsters released from prison and offered them any help they might need. These are qualities that one cannot hope to find in most detectives.

He used to work almost round the clock, nibbling on biscuits when he was hungry. I used to call him Biscuit Man.

He would never take leave owing to him. I had to almost pack him off on leave for a fortnight to see his parents in Malaysia. Even then, he would return in three or four days!"

MR LARRY THAMBIAH, Regional Director of Security, Seagate Technology, and former Director of Operations, and Commander Areas (in charge of all the land divisions) of the Singapore Police Force.

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