Swiss ruling suspends Osho International Foundation board in Zurich

Five member board of Osho International Foundation (OIF) in Zurich has been condionally suspended and their signatory rights have been annulled, followed by an order passed on June 2 by the Federal Supervisory Board for Foundations (ESA), Switzerland.

Long time Osho disciple and editor at Osho World magazine, Swami Chaitanya Keerti, who had been waging a battle said, "Osho Friends International in Delhi, and some Osho Centers in USA and Europe have been challenging these 5 monopolizers, who got defeated in USA, and now the Swiss government has punished them. Osho disciples around the world are very annoyed and upset with the behaviour of these five members of OIF," he said.

Keerti said that the OIF board's President, Michael O'Byrne (Anand Jayesh), vice president John Andrews (Prem Amrito) and three other board members, D'Arcy O' Byrne (Yogendra), Klaus Steeg (Pramod) and Rudolf Kocher, were provisionally removed from their posts.

Speaking on the development, Amrit Sadhana, Management Team, Osho International Meditation Resort in Pune, said, "Whatever has happened, has happened in Switzerland and not in India. The matter is in court and sub judice, so I cannot comment. We are acting as per our legal advisor."

Keerti said it was high time the Indian government wakes up to the OIF misappropriations in India. "About 20 years ago, this so-called OIF of five people had created OIF out of India so that they could control everything belonging to Osho-- publications, Osho Meditation centers, and various activities of sanyasis around the world," he said.

Another Osho disciple, Sandeep Kulkarni said, "With the Swiss Federal Supervisory Board for Foundation's verdict, OIF Zurich stands dismissed and it is an urgent need for Indian government to dismiss all the Indian trustees and management of Pune-based International Meditation Resort. Passports of the trustees should be taken into the custody immediately."