We are some of the 100 former Harris Organisation employees who were laid off this year. We have read with great interest the recent articles that have appeared in both The Panama News and La Prensa concerning the demise of The Harris Organisation in Panama and Mr. Harris’ flight from the country in April. In our opinion, Mr. Eric Jackson’s article contained neither false nor misleading information as Mr. Harris’ letter to the editor stated. On the contrary, it was Mr. Harris’ reply that contained the false and misleading information. First, Mr. Harris mentions the issues of corruption and lack of judicial security here in Panama. He is now living in Nicaragua so is he implying that Nicaragua is less corrupt and more judicially secure than Panama? We sincerely hope not, as it is, Nicaragua is actually worse on both issues. We must therefore conclude that Mr. Harris is deluded on this issue; otherwise he must be lying.

There are currently some 76 lawsuits brought against the Harris Orgainisation by unhappy clients who cannot get their money back. Could this have any bearing on Mr. Harris’ move to Nicaragua? It seems to be very probable as we are also unaware of any serious attempt to notify clients about the "move". We invite anyone with a copy of any such mass letter or e-mail to submit a copy. Calling any of the company’s contact numbers gets you a recording from Mr. Kenneth Darlington that says to send an e-mail or a fax. In fact it is our recollection that when PATCO was being established with its corresponding bank accounts in Managua, that we were repeatedly and emphatically warned to keep it secret and that no one must ever know that The Harris Organisation was behind PATCO. When Mr. Harris left in April to go to Managua, we were told that he was going to get some work done in Nicaragua and would be back to Panama in a week or so. When he failed to return within the specified time, we were further reassured that Mr. Harris encountered more to do than originally expected and would be back shortly. When his personal items were removed from his office in 501 Balboa Plaza, as well as from his apartment at Los Delfines complex we knew that to be all lies.

Mr. Harris denies having Nicaraguan citizenship. Several of us former employees remember seeing his documents claiming Mr. Marc Matthew Harris is Mr. Marco Mateo Harris, born in Nicaragua. Were these documents forgeries then? Unlikely as it was said at the time that Mr. Harris paid good money for those documents in Nicaragua, a country he purports to be less corrupt than Panama. Interesting! It has been said that Nicaragua has no extradition treaty with the USA and that Mr. Harris being a "native born" Nicaraguan cannot be extradited to face any charges up north. Please remember that Mr. Harris was a firm believer in second passports and in his favor he practices what he preaches.

Mr. Harris mentions that laying off 100 employees was a "painful but necessary measure". This was true, as the money had stopped coming in some time ago. The budget was not there to justify all those workers. Sad but true. The Organisation was bloated and top heavy and in dire need of restructuring if it were to survive. The financial situation has been grave for years. Mr. Harris promoted himself to be the boy genius yet he refused sage advice from within the company’s management to restructure and downsize some time ago. Any CEO worth his salt would have downsized years ago. Not Mr. Harris! This was part a deliberate effort by Mr. Harris to gain sympathy. When he was attacked in the press he always mentioned the 130 to 150 workers and their families that he employed. In particular, his effective use of his nominees who were on staff to avert and block many legal claims against him needs to be mentioned. His use and abuse of women who were not privy to the whole picture of what he was really doing because of their lack of basic business experience and knowledge combined with Mr. Harris’ flattery and charm made them easy dupes to be used.

At this point, organizational survival does not seem to have been the deciding factor in determining those who were fired. Those who remain on staff share one characteristic, their usefulness to Marc M. Harris and his personal affairs. When they are no longer useful to him, they will be kicked out on the street and will most probably be left unpaid what they are owed as well. When we, as former employees, went to claim the money we were owed, we were told by Max Hidalgo that Mr. Marc M. Harris told him to not pay the former employees, as they were all traitors. We still feel the warmth of his concern for our welfare. Thank you Mr. Harris. Our spouses, children and those who depended on our salaries thank you as well. We understand how hard it must be for you to live in a Managua with the many millions of dollars you STOLE from your naïve and trusting clients. We realize that even with money, Managua is not a nice place to live. That mugging you suffered in that taxi in Managua must have come as quite a shock to someone with an ego the size of yours. Could this incident also be a warning of Divine retribution? God’s judgment, unlike man’s, is perfect. Now you know what poor Dr. Mengele felt like when he had to leave Nazi Germany and ended up in Brazil. Call it your cosmic Karma.

The Harris Organisation has ceased to exist. The offices in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile and San Jose have all been closed down. The offices in Balboa Plaza here in Panama City were vacated rather hurriedly with some $42,000 in back rent owed. In fact the employees were unable to remove all furniture and files before the unhappy office owners locked them out. All that remains are a few employees in an office rented by Max Hidalgo y Asociados and the PATCO office in Nicaragua. We must therefore assume that Mr. Harris’ sojourn in Nicaragua has more to do with what is good for Mr. Harris than what is good for his now poorer clients and former staff. The Nicaraguan judicial system will protect him from any clients who seek legal redress for damages.

Mr. Harris denies that he is the beneficial owner of a private plane, a King Air Turbo Prop, in Panama. Please remember that Mr. Harris preaches asset protection which means not having assets directly traceable to ones name. Benson Aviation owns the plane and if you follow the trail, it leads back to Mr. Harris. That is why the pilots came to the THO offices in Balboa plaza to pick up their pay checks. Once again Mr. Harris practices what he preaches. A liar yes, but a hypocrite no! Even Mr. Harris knows that any business with the name of Marc M. Harris on it will not have many customers and he badly needs the income that plane is generating right now. Caveat emptor!

We sincerely hope that Mr. Harris realizes that we are now 100 former employees who worked with him both day and night for 24 hours and for many years. We know him well and so we will be watching what he says and what he does. We will now call him on the floor for his lies and misdeeds. We may still not have the full picture of all his nefarious activities but as we get together to discuss our experiences with him, we learn from each other and add yet another piece to the puzzle and therefore have a clearer picture of what went on and is going on. We will do our best to get the word out as to who he is and what he does to make sure no one else loses money down the black hole Marc M. Harris has created.

In closing, let us say that we believe that you did an excellent Job Mr. Jackson on your well-researched article about Mr. Harris’ recent activities. You scooped the Spanish language media here in Panama on this highly important and ongoing story. Congratulations and thank you. In the future, feel free to contact us in order to verify any future statements by Mr. Harris and his associates or any thing related to previous Harris activities. It is the least we can do.

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