All Members of Osho International Foundation Suspended

All four members of the Board of Osho International Foundation (OIF), Zurich, have been provisionally suspended. These four are indirectly controlling the Pune Osho Meditation Resort through their appointees.

Moreover, they cannot transfer any funds as ordered by the Federal Supervisory Board for Foundations, Switzerland, on 02 June 2014.

Michael O’Byrne (Anand Jayesh) John Andrews (Prem Amrito) D’Arcy O’Byrne (Yogendra) Klaus Steeg (Pramod)

The Board’s President, Michael O’Byrne (Anand Jayesh), the Vice President, John Andrews (Prem Amrito) and three board members: D’Arcy O’ Byrne (Yogendra), Klaus Steeg (Pramod) and Rudolf Kocher, of OIF, Zurich were removed from their positions and functions.

The order was issued after an appeal by a former member of the Foundation Board of OIF, Robert Doetsch (Ramateertha of Osho Lotus Commune, Cologne, Germany). He complained to the Federal Supervisory Board for Foundations (ESA) on 20 May, 2014. He petitioned that the OIF Board officeholders should be dismissed and suitable new board members should be sought and instated.

The ESA upheld the complaint stating that OIF Board Members are guilty of serious breaches of the aims of the Foundation, particularly continued misappropriation of Foundation assets, the full extent of which cannot yet be fully estimated.

The ESA noticed the exploitation of Intellectual Property Rights by OIF and misappropriation and transfer of funds from the foundation to private companies. Thus all financial transactions of OIF have been stopped unless instructed by the Federal Supervisory Board for Foundations (ESA). This order can be appealed by OIF, Zurich within 30 days however all suspensory rights have been revoked.

This decision by a Swiss government authority follows a string of such complaints and litigations against this Swiss Foundation. Recently, a group of Osho disciples from Pune have been demanding probe into the affairs of the trusts controlled indirectly by the same suspended directors from the Zurich Foundation.

Since Osho left his body in 1990, Osho disciples in India and abroad have protested at the way the Osho Trusts and Foundations have been managed. Constant threats of infringement of Trademarks and Copyrights have been issued by this Board to the Osho meditation centres and disciples round the world. As a result, several centres have closed down.

When in 2000, OIF objected to a website www.oshoworld.com for making Osho and his discourses freely available on the web around the globe, Osho Friends International (OFI), Delhi, an Association of Osho Meditation Centers and Osho lovers objected to the high handedness of OIF through National Arbitration Forum (NAF). In July, 2000, NAF decided in favour of Osho Dhyan Mandir, the owner of www.oshoworld.com.

Soon after, the trademarks of Osho registered by OIF in the US came to the notice of Osho Friends International, and they appealed for cancelling them to the US Trademark Trials and Appeal Board, of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The strongly worded unanimous verdict by the Board, on 13 January 2009, has established that “Osho” cannot be trademarked.

From Pune, Osho Friends Foundation (an association of friends and disciples) petitioned the Charity Commissioner raising serious objections to OIF’s application to gift a part of the Osho ashram in 2011. This was followed by legal cases and petitions filed in Bombay High Court and Pune Civil Court by Osho Friends. An FIR and a Police Complaint has also been registered against the OIF Board for misappropriation of funds and Osho ‘Will’ forgery.

In 2010, Osho Lotus Commune, Cologne, Germany filed a request in the Trademark Registry of EU in Alicante, for Declaration of Invalidity of ‘Osho’ trademark that was registered by Osho International Foundation (OIF), Zurich.

In 2013, OIF produced a ‘Will’ purportedly signed by Osho in Alicante, Spain, in a case filed by Osho Lotus Commune challenging the Trademark rights of OIF in Europe. This will was later withdrawn.

For further information, please visit: www.oshofriendsinternational.com