MISMANAGEMENT OF KRISHNAMURTI FOUNDATION TRUST (KFT) / BROCKWOOD PARK SCHOOL

Based On Over Seventy (70) Testimonies & Letters

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE TO THIS VERSION

New Discoveries of Trustee Conflict of Interest

Troubling New Testimonies, e.g., Report of Child Having Anal Sex In School Library

Trust’s Preposterous Police Reports & Lying to the Police

Departure of Gisele Balleys

Preemptive Superficial Changes at the Trust Including Antonio’s Role

Trust’s Futile Defense: Blame Words of 70+ People on One Person; And Bill Taylor’s Lies

WHO WAS J. KRISHNAMURTI?

DISCLAIMER

INTRODUCTION

PROBLEM STATEMENT, OBJECTIVES

PROJECT TEAM

PUBLIC INTEREST

RESEARCH METHOD

PREFACE TO THIS VERSION

We have gone through a painstakingly long period of research, inquiry, interviews, analysis, and updates of this report over the course of the last months. We did not publicly release this report meanwhile, but the current version will be filed with the Charity Commission. The latest version of this report can always be found here: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/KFT-Mismanagement

Note: We have not updated this report since earlier version to reflect new testimonies, discovery of further conflict of interest in the Board of Trustees, and the superficial changes the Trust has brought as preemptive moves prior to Charity Commission potential audit.

New Discoveries of Trustee Conflict of Interest

We’ve received new evidence of new instances of conflict of interest at the trustee level, and influence mongering of Friedrich Grohe & Gang.

Troubling New Testimonies, e.g., Report of Child Having Anal Sex In School Library

Several new testimonies have been added to this report.

Trust’s Preposterous Police Reports & Lying to the Police

During the course of the last months we were also distracted by the Trust’s dishonest false reports to a couple of police agencies, both of which decided not to investigate the Trust’s baseless allegations. We also filed a complaint against Hampshire police for alleged police misconduct in relation to the Trust’s meritless complaint. That also took a long time – and eventually Hampshire police decided to ask the Trust for evidence to back its claim, which the Trust failed to do, which proved it had acted in ill-will and dishonesty.

The details of the police fiascos are illustrated in these two documents:

· https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/krishnamurti-foundation-trust-kft-bogus-police-reports

· https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/uk-police-misconduct-kft-misconduct

Prior to filing with Charity Commission we had another round of legal consultations with attorneys in the UK to make sure the I’s are dotted and t’s are crossed, about the case. That does not mean that this document is perfect. It would cost us a lot of money to have an attorney go through 300-pages, but as this document has been produced with genuine sincere motives to find truth and present truth, hopefully this volunteer-produced artifact will serve its purpose to reflect what has become of Krishnamurti’s beloved KFT/Brockwood, and serve as basis for the Charity Commission to act, given the presence of substantive body of direct and circumstantial evidence.

~~~

WARNING

This is a collective effort and not the work of one person. But to defend itself against the consistent and troubling allegations made herein by over 70 people, Krishnamurti Foundation Trust has chosen to make 100% false accusations against our team and our lead investigator. Once called out, the Trust failed to provide any evidence to back its preposterous fake claims. Their lawyer pulled out of the case after we demanded evidence to support the Trust’s fake attempts to intimidate and discredit us.

Then the Trust filed two meritless dishonest reports with the police. Both police agencies refused to investigate the Trust’s dishonest report due to lack of evidence. And we obtained proof that the Trust lied to the police. Compare that to Krishnamurti’s teachings on importance of truth. So be careful about the Trust’s attempts to tarnish our team or our lead investigator’s reputation, and demand to see evidence for their fake claims which they fabricate to cover up for their mismanagement, misconduct, failure of key duties of some trustees, and deep rooted governance issues.

Departure of Gisele Balleys

We recently came to notice that Gisele Balleys is no longer a trustee. We have nevertheless retained the references about her in this report, since the alleged gross mismanagement of the Trust and failures of the Board of Trustees all happened while she was a trustee, and based on information we have we do not believe anything has changed as a result of Mrs. Balleys departure since she was a passive trustee and sided with management and was apparently marginalized by the management in what we consider to be a defective power structure. The mismanagement and governance issues at the Trust are still vital issues in our view based on latest testimonies we have.

Preemptive Superficial Changes at the Trust Including Antonio’s Role

We also do not believe the superficial changes at the Trust are anything more thanks preemptive action ahead of Charity Commission investigation, in order to give pretense of change. We believe the Trust’s governance has too many fundamental issues to self-heal and therefore we hope Charity Commission will intervene.

Antonio’s role change does not diminish the fact that he’s still very much a part of the School’s management team, that he’s still a very close affiliate of Friedrich Grohe and part of his extended team. We assume he’s still part of the Old Boys clan which has had tremendous power at the Trust, outside the Board of Trustees. And based on numerous testimonies he was a part of much of the mismanagement that happened at the Trust, and had a key role in what led to the collapse of Inwoods. We have no evidence that anything fundamental has changed in terms of Antonio’s influence. All of this is described in detail in this document.

Trust’s Futile Defense: Blame Words of 70+ People on One Person; And Bill Taylor’s Lies

We learned that the Trust has engaged in fabricating lies about our main investigative reporter, in order to discard the findings of this report. Age old, futile, unethical tactic: when you don’t like a message, try to discredit the messenger.

See section “Calling Out Bill Taylor’s Lies”

WHO WAS J. KRISHNAMURTI?

Mr. Jiddu Krishnamurti was a prominent and highly respected 20th century philosopher/speaker/author/educator who traveled the world for over 60 years, giving talks to larger crowds about important questions of living. He provided a set of challenges and pointers which he asked his readers/listeners to examine for themselves. He did not provide any manifesto, doctrine, method to be practiced or followed, and he did not want to have followers.

A most brilliant person, his discourses and books are full of precious insights. The following page contains quotes from many prominent personalities about Mr. Krishnamurti.

https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/jiddu-krishnamurti-references-compiled-by-reza-ganjavi

DISCLAIMER

The statements of many people which are reflected herein were collected in a spirit of sincere search for truth, and examined from multiple angles to derive at truth as much as possible. The opinion and reports of events by people cannot always be verified for truthfulness, and as such the authors do not take responsibility for them – however, a sincere, diligent attempt has been made to examine from multiple angles if what was said was true, corroborated, and consistent with other testimonies and circumstances. We did not include any submissions which made allegations that were not substantiated by a witness, evidence, or adjudication. If you see anything in this document which is presented as a fact which you know is factually incorrect, please contact us via this page: https://www.rezamusic.com/about/contact so we can assess and correct it. See additional disclaimers below.

NOTE TO NEW WITNESSES: Witnesses of mismanagement at KFT/Brockwood who would like to share their story, as long as it's sincere and genuine, can contact us here: https://www.rezamusic.com/about/contact

INTRODUCTION

PROBLEM STATEMENT, OBJECTIVES

Over seventy (70) testimonials and letters, together with the associated research and analysis reported in this document, unveil a bleak, disturbing picture of Krishnamurti Foundation Trust (“the Trust”)'s deep-rooted governance issues, mismanagement, some trustees’ potential breach of key duties, and accountability issues. It all culminated in the collapse of a great school (Inwoods), among the many other issues such as the reported mistreatment of some people, potential legal issues, gross diversion from the Trust’s founder’s teachings and ideals, subject matter incompetence among some people in charge, and numerous other management issues.

Painstaking, diligent, objective inquiry clarified the root causes of the issues, including external influences. Out of this inquiry, the solution presented itself in light of the fact that the Charity Commission has the legal power to oust part or entire Board, so some entities might want to “self-heal” which is less painful:

There is an urgent need for fundamental change at the Trust, e.g., the replacement of several trustees including Derek Hook, Gary Primrose, Wendy Smith, and the dismissal of Raman Patel, Nasser Shamim, Mina Masoumian, Antonio Autor, with a reasonable notice period.

If Charity Commission gets involved, our request is only to replace some of the trustees, as we believe a new, impartial Board of Trustees will make the right decisions about the management resources.

Our activism may yield no tangible results but at the very least we’ve documented this important and tragic snapshot in the history of K’s work. We are pessimistic that the Trust could heal itself. But we are cautiously optimistic that UK’s authorities/regulators will take a serious look at things and hopefully force out some of the problem trustees. We have some excellent trustee candidates (e.g., former students and staff) who could step right in.

PROJECT TEAM

This research report was done as a collaborative effort by a group of people concerned with mismanagement and scandals at Krishnamurti Foundation Trust (“KFT”) / Brockwood Park Krishnamurti Educational Center (“Brockwood”), which culminated in the collapse of the Inwoods School. They asked Reza Ganjavi, MBA to get involved as an investigative journalist, senior business analyst, senior program manager, philosopher, student and friend of J. Krishnamurti (when he was a teenager, K gave him a red rose). The pro-bono engagement started with a totally clean slate and no bias whatsoever, with the aim of getting to the facts. Course of action and the necessary remedies became evident only after all the facts were on the table.

Numerous interviews were conducted, and analyzed to identify common threads, consistencies, root causes. The results are reflected in this document. The interviewees appreciated this research, and felt it to be a breath of fresh air, given all the injustice, mismanagement, and disintegration they witnessed in a place they hold close to their hearts.

This activism is a collective effort involving several concerned parties, with support from a much wider circle. Many people including close friends of Krishnamurti, ex-trustees, current trustees of other K foundations, ex-students, staff, volunteers, etc. have been outraged and alienated by the mismanagement of the Trust and the prevailing incompetence, egotism, mismanagement and betrayal of some key values Krishnamurti spoke about for 60 years.

Many witnesses pointed to the trustees of the foundation, including Derek Hook – and Raman Patel, Nasser Shamim, Mina Masoumian, Antonio Autor as allegedly some of the key parties behind the disastrous mismanagement at the Trust.

For example, various people were allegedly threatened to be charged with (bogus) gross misconduct. These two quotes is one of many examples why the mismanagement was on their part! They made a great school collapse without the foresight to see it coming - which points to key oversight and competence issues on the part of trustees and management. And that was just one of the disastrous results of the alleged mismanagement and alleged trustees’ failure of their duties.

KFT Trustees: "We are confident that this transition will be managed smoothly and professionally and that Inwoods, now in its 23rd year, will continue to flourish as it has done up to now." Reality: Inwoods collapsed and it has not been the same again.

Nasser Shamim: "All the good things here [at Inwoods] will continue. I don't think why it will become different." Reality: Inwoods collapsed and it has not been the same again

PUBLIC INTEREST

Krishnamurti Foundation Trust is a charitable, non-profit, tax-exempt entity which receives public donations, and its work is a matter of public interest. Furthermore, it was founded by Mr. Jiddu Krishnamurti who was a public figure, and his work is a matter of public interest. Therefore the critique of the Trust presented in this paper is a matter of public interest.

RESEARCH METHOD

This endeavor was primarily an exploratory research without any preliminary hypothesis or apriori assumptions to direct the exploration. The goal of the research was purely to try to find truth which at the onset seemed like a needle in a haystack. We wanted to verify if there was a chaos, and if so, ideally, arrive at the root causes. We started with a complete blank slate, and giving everybody the benefit of the doubt; no ulterior motive; no axe to grind; no malice; no prejudice.

As such our approach was objective, sound, and driven by an earnest search for truth. Therefore, we were able to listen to everyone who came forward, with an open mind. We asked them follow on questions to get a better understanding.

We had no idea in the beginning how it will go, what we will find, or what action if any should be taken. In due time it became apparent that indeed there was a serious management issue at the Trust, and we began seeing a lot of consistencies in different people’s accounts, and we gained insights into the mindset of the Trust’s management – which was revealing and disconcerting, and we believe we gained understanding of the root causes of the issues.

REGULATORS, ETC.

The task force identified these entities as interested parties from regulatory standpoint:

· Charity Commission, UK – charitycommission.gov.uk

· Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI), UK – Safeguarding@isi.net, concerns@isi.net

· Department of Education, UK – registration.enquiries@education.gov.uk

· Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), UK – enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk, casenquiries@ofsted.gov.uk, cie@ofsted.gov.uk (Compliance Enquiries)

· National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) – help@nspcc.org.uk

· Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education – enquiries@oiahe.org.uk

· Home Office Immigration Unit, UK – complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk, public.enquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk

· The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBU) info@thebureauinvestigates.com

· Other Free Speech, and Anti-SLAPP organizations: article19.org, cpj.org, daphne.foundation, ecpmf.eu, edri.org, freepressunlimited.org, ForeignPressCorrespondents.org, gfmd.info, gijn.org, icfj.org, ipi.media, jfj.fund, lawyers4reporters.org, mediadefence.org, medialegalhelp.org, oas.org, pen-international.org, rcfp.org, rorypecktrust.org, rsf.org, spj.org, spotlightcorruption.org, tbij.com, tcij.org, the-case.eu, thebureauinvestigates.com, trust.org

· Krishnamurti Foundations India Trustees

TESTIMONIES & ANALYSIS

[For an explanation of who’s who, see sections below starting with “Key Figures”]

DISCLAIMERS

Note: This research started with no bias whatsoever, as a fact-finding mission, and that spirit of wanting to know the truth remained till the end.

Note: Our primary objective was to find the truth, and report according to our findings in an objective manner. To that effect, we made a painstaking effort to cross check things as much as possible, and question things from different angels because we didn’t want to settle with something however sensational it may have been, at the expense of compromising the integrity of our approach and effort. So this is a well-researched report and not a tabloid.

Note: The section below includes statements from witnesses as well as commentary and analysis of the author in relationship to those statements, and statements of others which may be related to the topic in each section. Our search for truth included talking to several people who knew of certain situations or heard from people who were later gagged by NDAs (sometimes just before the NDA was signed) and therefore couldn’t talk to us.

Note: The term “testimony” is used here to mean statements vs. a formal testimony made in court of law under oath for example. What the witnesses have said and written are not formal, legal testimonies or affidavits. They may have lied. The job of the investigative reporter is to try to find truth in a hay stack of statements that may or may not be true, and look for consistencies and circumstantial evidence by logical analysis of the information. What we found however, was that most if not all the statements were very consistent with other statements made by numerous other people. Certain isolated things we have no way of verifying but those are usually minor innuendos. But a very diligent effort was made to get at the truth, by talking to as many sources as possible, and not settle with any conclusions prematurely.

Note: Work on this document started before Raman Patel becomes executive director, so not all the sections are totally up to date in terms of e.g. saying Raman is acting in the background.

Note: As many of the testimonies were taken verbally, not every statement is quoted in quotation marks, however, much that are not in quotes are also the words of the interviewee but to be accurate, paraphrases are mainly not in quotes.

ANAL SEX IN THE LIBRARY

The Trustees of Krishnamurti Foundation Trust are also the Governors of Brockwood Park School. Gary Primrose is the Chair of Governors. Wendy Smith is a "Safeguarding Liaison Trustees".

We have a troubling report from a parent about inappropriate sexual relationships at the school. She wrote that a student female child at Brockwood Park School who was a friend of her child who was also a student there, used to come to their house. The child told the lady that she was having anal sex in the school library with an older male student and that she had not enjoyed and had pain and was wondering if there’s something wrong with her!

A former staff member commented: “Regarding anal sex in the library, it's horrible. Poor thing. There was no supervision; nobody was supervised. They were left at the mercy of each other. There was a lack of supervision all around. I believe her one hundred percent. I can see that happening there. Often nobody is looking after them. At a school you should have staff members keeping an eye. That was not happening at Brockwood. Basically you had people running the school who were learning how to run the school.”

The subject of sexuality at the School is discussed in other sections in this report as well.

TESTIMONY OF LADY GGG

Also see Lady GGG’s powerful letters to the Trust in the section “Letters From Lady GGG” below.

"I wonder now how many other kids they have failed - certainly there were many concerns over drugs and underage sex and inappropriate relationships between students and staff - altogether quite concerning when you step back and look at it - they let a boy go into my daughter's room once when she was very sick, he had a crush on her and apparently kept stroking her but she was too ill to do anything about it and felt very uncomfortable. Another girl asked me for advice because she was having unprotected anal sex with an older boy, often in the library, and didn’t understand why she wasn’t enjoying it, she was 15 and a full time boarder with a guardian overseas. She thought there was something wrong with her."

Mina’s Arrogance & Lack Of Competence

“I did not like Mina’s attitude or manner from the beginning. She seemed to be incredibly opinionated for someone with so little experience, so little competence in the subject matter, no education or experience in the topic prior to Brockwood. She clearly did not fully understand the nature of our concerns but was too arrogant to listen.”

“Mina had no teaching, pastoral, or pedagogical experience whatsoever, but to <>’s and most likely others detriment she was arrogant and was given power and authority that was not befitting her qualifications, or lack thereof.”

Lack of Proper Safeguarding / Pastoral Care

Lady GGG alleges that her child developed anorexia while enrolled at the Trust’s Brockwood Park School, because of lack of sufficient safeguarding / pastoral care, where for example, for ten days her child had not eaten but nobody had noticed it. She wrote a detailed account of disturbing factual allegations that is consistent with what we’ve heard from other witnesses in their dealings with the Trust and its School.

She also cites a number of examples of the way the school mishandled her child and other children that she had direct experience with, e.g., allegedly having one disturbed child take care of another disturbed child.

Lady GGG tried to work things out with the Trust and get them to take some responsibility, but they categorically refused to take any responsibility.

Lady GGG gave up on the Trust after Trustee Wendy Smith wrote her a dishonest response which lady GGG also interpreted as a bullying attempt.

Wendy Smith also reiterated going to Mina as the way to communicate with the Trustees but the parent had already made it clear to them that she does not want to have anything to do with Mina because of her sentiments towards Mina due to Mina’s mismanagement, which is squarely the fault of the trustees due to Mina assuming such a powerful role at the School while lacking education or experience in the field of education, safeguarding, pastoral care, etc. prior to being instated at the Trust by Grohe’s Gang.

Trustee Wendy Smith Lying (December 2022)

Wendy Smith, in her December 2022 email to the parent wrote: “you also included individuals who are no longer Trustees of the school.”

That is a false, deceptive statement. First off, the School is not a trust to have trustee. Trustees belong to the Trust and unfortunately Wendy Smith is one of them, and the Trust has been veered in a direction that apparently it has become a part of the culture of the Trust (due to factors outlined in this report) to lie, to not be honest, to use twisted statements, to give public convoluted confusing untrue statements.

· Fact is in the email the parent sent to the Trust, which we obtained a copy of, the parent included only the current trustees of the foundation plus Gisele Balleys who was a trustee up to recently.

· On Brockwood Park School’s website there’s a list of the Trust’s trustees as the trustees. There is no separate concept of trustees of the School. There is the concept of trustees who are in charge of the school but it is not defined publicly. We know from communications we’ve received involving the school that Gary Primrose and Wendy Smith were most active in matters of school, and they are on the list of problem trustees whom the Charity Commission should force out, in our opinion, for reasons outlined in this report.

o Even if Wendy Smith is referring to trustees who are in charge of the school, her statement is still deceptive because “no longer” implied they the supposed trustees were at some point trustees in charge of the school – but that is false – we know several of the current trustees were never in charge of the School. And we’re confident Wendy Smith is referring to departure of Gisele Balleys but Gisele is one person and not plural.

· Wendy Smith’s alleged deceptive statement attempts to tell the former Brockwood parent that more than one person on the email list are no longer trustees but that is a falsehood which Wendy Smith must have known to be false, therefore, she intentionally lied. Only one person is no longer a trustee, and no multiple people.

· This may seem like a small phrase but in the grand scope of the level of dishonesty coming from the Trust of a man who spent a lifetime promoting importance of truth, it cannot be overlooked.

Trustee Wendy Smith Allegedly Falsely Accusing Parent (December 2022)

Wendy Smith, in her December 2022 email to the parent also wrote: “Please note that you have used Trustees' private email addresses which is in breach of the school's data protection policies.”

Perhaps Wendy Smith obtained her inaccurate legal advice from Nasser Shamin who has reportedly often used his lawyer clout (despite not being a licensed solicitor or barrister in the UK) to get his way; or she didn’t seek legal advice before threatening a former parent of being in breach of school policy.

· Wendy Smith, as a trustee, should have known that a former parent is not subject to a school’s data protection policies especially in regards to data that she did not obtain from the school.

· We spoke with a school principal who also has a law degree, and he laughed at Wendy Smith’s response. The parent did not find it funny and wrote back to Wendy stating she felt bullied.

· Again, in our view, the significance of this seemingly short phrase is the culture of the Trust which seems to have strayed from the objective and values of the Founder and the Trust’s charter, and such actions by the Trustees are directly responsible for an apparent culture of lack of accountability and thinking anything goes. There are several accounts of people getting false information from the Trust, which the Trust apparently used to cover up for its mismanagement.

"What an awful story! Incredibly indicative of the lack of appropriate training and the arrogance of some people at Brockwood, in particular Mina. If Trustees don’t finally remove Mina after this then I don’t know what will." – Former Staff Member

TESTIMONY OF BROCKWOOD PARK SCHOOL'S SECRETARY / INWOODS' PARENT

“Dear Réza,

Here is an account of my 12 months' employment at Brockwood Park School. I was employed as the secretary between 27.09.2017 and 21.09.2018.”

Favoritism, Tribalism

“First of all, I was surprised, disappointed, and shocked to see the big favoritisms from the management that existed towards both staff and even worse, students at a K school. It was clear from the beginning you had to belong to the right clan to be "successful" either as a staff member or student. There was clear manipulation and control of those that were categorized by the management as being in the right clan. Those members of staff or students that had critical thinking and voiced their thoughts were not welcome and therefore were pushed out. The management must have missed K's message about Freedom as well as School with no Fear.”

Nasser Allegedly Laughed Off Staff Member In Pain

“I have considerable experience in the business world - regarded within the K world, it often seems as the "outside bad world of competitive, aggressive and disrespectful ways". In my 20 years in that so-called world, I had never seen such an unprofessional, disrespectful and uncaring way of treating staff members. To give one of many examples, I once badly hurt my back. Consequently, I was walking awkwardly, due to the severe pain I had. Nasser Shamim, instead of caring and sending me home, laughed in my face, quite literally. If that would be considered a bizarre reaction from a colleague, then from “the director of the foundation”, the reaction was, in one word, stunning.”

Strange, Strained, Tense Place

“This is the most vivid example of the present atmosphere at BP and the fact that the working atmosphere was not a relaxed, positive one in which working and professional relationships could flourish and evolve healthily, constructively and effectively for the "deserved benefit of the place, the people and the legacy of K". The atmosphere I experienced was a strange, strained and tense place.

In my brief time, I witnessed the episode with Gopal’s departure and the consequent manipulative message they gave staff members about it. It was very clear there was something unhealthy going on, based on that alone. Gopal embodied the spirit and essence of sharing K’s teachings. As did (see later) HEADTEACHER. I also witnessed the subsequent pushing out of teacher <>.”

Firing Without Dialogue

“My own employment ended when I was dismissed on Friday, 21.09.2018. At 1:00 pm, I was told by Mina Masoumian while having lunch that I was to have a meeting at 3:00 pm that same day - without any indication as to the reason for/ nature of said meeting, nor any prior warnings of any kind. At 3:00 pm, I was told my "part-time role was not working". I was not given the option to work full time nor was there any interest in having a "dialogue" to look at what the situation was and how we could solve it. Again, they don't seem to put into practice K's teachings.”

Manipulation, Control

“I sought basic level advice on the matter (from the UK’s Citizen Advice service) and was advised that I had “a case to bring”. However, given that my son was an Inwoods student and my husband was a class teacher there, I opted not to pursue that route. It seems that others too opted not to bring similar cases. In part no doubt, this is due to a wish not to harm the good name of Krishnamurti and/or a fear of doing so. It’s a powerful reality of which no doubt the management have long been aware and via which, I believe, they continue to manipulate/control/ make decisions that lack integrity.”

“Brockwood, the Biggest Disappointment in My Life”

“Brockwood Park School has been the biggest disappointment I have experienced in my life on a professional and personal level. I went from being ready to sell a property to be able to fund our son's education at BP to not wanting to touch it even if it was free. I simply trust none of the current management. I do not think they are qualified for the roles, demonstrate the duty and competence of care nor have the experience to be responsible for 80+ teenagers the majority of whose parents are far away. Some of the younger students were quite lost and emotionally unsupported.”

“I am grateful to life for the wonderful 4 academic years our son was able to enjoy at Inwoods Small School under the care, holistic approach and loving attention of HEADTEACHER whose criteria for fully covering children's needs, I fully trust. I was disgusted but sadly not surprised to hear of the way in which she too had been pushed out, and the way in which the management and trustees failed to listen and respond (literally and figuratively) to parents’ and teachers’ questions and requests for dialogue as the school under HEADTEACHER was brought to a close, leaving the children's educational/schooling needs completely unattended. “

“The closure was, for BP management, favorably timed with the pandemic unfolding, i.e., all schools 'closed down' at that time. But other schools of course continued to provide educational services via online classes, tutorials and activities. In contrast, the BP management effectively shut down Inwoods. The manner in which this was done and communicated brought directly into question their own ability and suitability to run any type of educational establishment - let alone a residential/ boarding one where a caring, pastoral ethos has surely to be at the core of everything.”

“I am therefore, with a touch of irony, grateful for the fact that life put me inside BP before investing what would have been the best part 100.000 GBP for my son’s education. They’ve also lost the potential interest and investment from others to whom I can no longer recommend the school. We had a circle of international friends & contacts considering that option.”

“I am happy for this text to be used for the benefit of recuperating the genuine essence of Brockwood Park School - once the most progressive school that sadly our son and many others won't be able to enjoy.”

“If you would like to discuss anything on Zoom etc., please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

With best wishes,”

Part 2: Hello Reza, good morning...Thank you. Wow, that is a lot of work!! As you say for a very good cause. 🙏🏻

Brutal Micromanagement

“I was lucky that I did not have much to do with Nasser on a daily basis. I cried because of the actions of Vicki Lewin. Once I returned to work after having hurt my back, when I was still in pain, the mother of a Spanish student who is a Physio, offered me a massage. It had to be there and then as she was flying back to Spain that afternoon. I told Vicki I was going to be absent from my desk for 30 minutes max and she did not allow me. Vicki was very much part of the gang, who I may be wrong but I always thought she spoke badly about me to Mina as she felt threaten by me. She always made me feel uncomfortable and was nervous around her. It was either you are part of the gang or you are not. She was and I wasn't.”

“The mother who offered me the massage could not believe it when I said I was not allowed to be absent from my desk in such a school...I have recently found myself thinking with nostalgia about how the perfect school BP could have been for our son who is now 15. Sept 22/23 would have been the time when he would have joined. Very, very sad. We have not found a suitable school yet!”

“One important correction about my role. I was luckily not Nasser's secretary. I was the school's secretary.”

TESTIMONY OF INWOODS’ STAFF MEMBER AND PARENT

“We moved many miles for our 5 year old child to join Inwoods Small School in 2013, initially on a part time basis (of which was a rarity in most primary schools) and to gradually build to 4-5 days. HEADTEACHER was a unique Headteacher (who disliked the title), so loving, so wise and such a visionary. I witnessed that she held the children (and the whole community) from the ground up, not top down like other schools. Once a month she would pull the whole community together to check in, update, review and have a dialogue, thus, keeping in regular face to face contact and was always available at the school or remotely.”

“I didn't know a great deal about K when we joined the school, I just simply loved the way of being that I saw and felt on the 6 times we visited before making the leap. HEADTEACHER was the very essence of following K's teachings, of course she would as she knew him first hand! HEADTEACHER ensured all staff were on the same page, having regular dialogues on a weekly basis. Consequently, the pupils were in a very special place, surrounded in nature and totally heard, known and understood, all coming from love and an understanding of what education is and needs to be. HEADTEACHER was for my child who is now 14 who recently said, "HEADTEACHER is the best teacher I have ever had"”..

Inwoods and Brockwood Had Healthy Relationship Before Antonio/Nasser/Mina took over Brockwood

“When I joined, Inwoods families were made to feel welcome (and encouraged by HEADTEACHER) at KFT (by appointment) to understand K's teachings and also, the school could share Brockwood’s facilities on many levels, food ordering, main hall for end of year show, tennis courts and pottery are a few things I was aware of. Thus, a healthy connection between Brockwood and Inwoods was had on all levels.”

From the onset, Helena allegedly wanted HEADTEACHER out

“However, the Principal changed to Antonio and [in my opinion] Helena began to dig her heels in. It was very clear [in my view that] she wanted HEADTEACHER out. Helena was forever scathing of HEADTEACHER. As I became administrator soon after our arrival, I witnessed Helena's [apparently, allegedly] undermining behaviour alongside the shift when Nasser and Mina come into power. Whilst I continued to assist HEADTEACHER and welcome in new families, I could see that something was awry. Money that belonged to Inwoods was put in a collective account, rather than a separate bank account.”

“It was not clear where all the monies were going. On a regular basis I had to ask Accounts for an update on monies received by parents for trial days etc. This information I was granted to continue the Admin process. I suggested that a separate account be set up as HEADTEACHER and I had observed that a substantial amount was being taken out for 'shared' gardeners, maintenance, accounts etc. without any break down of actual hours and invoices paid. Surely, the school should have its own bank account for accounting purposes and clarity?”

“Several families who took both children out following Nassar's presentation said they were furious how Nassar turned up out of the blue and told all parents how the fees didn’t meet the amount required to keep Inwoods afloat. He gave a flip chart presentation with ball park figures explaining how those who earned more would pay more. We, as parents, asked for specifics as there were obviously people there selling everything to be there. About 6 months later he turned up and gave the same presentation with no further information whatsoever.”

“Subsequently, HEADTEACHER ‘had a word with us’ but it was obvious she was told to by Brockwood. We handed our notice in not long after that.”

“One parent ends with 'I’d happily suggest Nasser and Mina were not qualified to make financial decisions on the scale of Inwoods/Brockwood. The fact they had ‘visa issues’ rung alarm bells for me'. It’s difficult to see how Inwoods was in such bad shape financially when none of the staff were really being paid anything meaningful. There was definitely another motive!”

“And so, I could list many issues whilst I worked in the office, such as:”

Nasser & Mina Often “No Show”

“1. Nasser/Mina agreeing a regular meeting to connect with (and suggested by) HEADTEACHER, but rudely never turning up or cancelling many times at the last minute.

2. Not allowing HEADTEACHER to create a governing body for the school, which was puzzling.

3. No longer allowing access to use the Brockwood facilities that I mentioned earlier.

4. NEVER entertaining the idea put forward many times of linking the two schools together through creating a middle school using the brick building on the Inwoods site which seemed to be the obvious place and a costing had been made to show it would be fruitful and thus, doable.

5. Reducing HEADTEACHER's timeslot at Trustee meetings.

6. NOT allowing HEADTEACHER to bring another colleague to any of the Trustee meetings.”

Antonio: “We don’t need yoga at Brockwood”!

“An Inwoods highly experienced yoga teacher parent came forward to offer yoga to Brockwood students, this was turned down by Antonio, 'we don't need yoga at Brockwood'. [Krishnamurti did yoga and wanted it taught at Brockwood; and he didn't want martial arts taught in his schools. Now Brockwood teaches martial arts and doesn't each yoga!]”

Antonio never went to Inwoods

“Never, did I see his presence on Inwoods site in 5 years of working there, I now understand by looking at Inwoods’ website that he is Principal of Inwoods, an ex-footballer, in charge of two schools? What evidence is there of his educational training, experience and expertise I wonder?

After witnessing such a thriving community within Inwoods Small School, with HEADTEACHER at the heart of it grow from strength to strength, it is great sadness that for whatever reasons HEADTEACHER was asked to move on. I would like to hear, first hand those reasons as so far, this is not clear [all the contradictory reasons given to various people turned out to be lies].”

No Experience With Primary Education

"Antonio who is now principal of Inwoods but has no experience of primary education or working with parents, and is not regularly directly engaging with the children." Ex. Staff

Inwoods Provided Great Education

“All the children I have met following their experience of schooling through Inwoods are the most stable, grounded, solid, confident children who have a real passion for learning and zest for life.”

“If HEADTEACHER ever chose to leave, she would have handpicked the right person to take over and the transition would have been seamless. “

Nasser Allegedly “Never Made Sense”

Lady AAA shared her impression of Nasser who was "never there, never making sense, his eyes were glassy, and had a silly smirk about him all the time". She recalls Mina allegedly had no comprehension about the running of a school. "She didn't get how a school worked or how it ran"; not surprising since Mina has no background in the field of education, and neither does Nasser, and he thinks "everyone is an educator". Poor Krishnamurti whose beloved school ended up in the hands of Nasser and Mina and Raman and Antonio. The latter two also have no formal education in education. Raman, Mina, and Nasser also have no experience running a school, yet are reportedly behind all key decisions.

Helena’s Alleged Brusque Response To Child

Lady AAA recalls visiting Helena's school and a boy wanted to urinate -- and Helena, in the middle of a conversation with Lady AAA who was a complete stranger to the boy, allegedly pulled the boy's pants down and held him horizontally “like a board”, with the boy’s feet on the ground but his nose almost to the ground, and the boy urinated. It happened as the conversation with lady AAA was continuing. Lady AAA was shocked and wondered how the boy felt at this rather brusque and mechanical response, and how the boy’s parents would feel. Lady AAA said at Inwoods they would handle it very differently and with more care, sensitivity, and respect.

After reading the report Helena wrote that it’s up to the children to choose to be “assisted” “behind a tree if they request more privacy”. An expert in young children schooling thought it’s odd to expect a young child to tell the adult: I want privacy, let’s go behind a tree; the adult should judge that.

Like a few other people Lady AAA views Helena as allegedly a “control freak” and “obsessed with tidying things”.

(Lady AAA)

TESTIMONY OF EX-BROCKWOOD STUDENT

Climate of Tension and Fear

Mr. HH was a student at Brockwood. I know him and his family are very interested in K's teachings and care deeply about Brockwood. He went back in 2016/2017 after Nasser and Mina had become the leaders, and with Raman in the background were gaining increasing power.

"I could surely perceive a new climate of tension and fear. Something had changed compared to when I was a student."

Nasser “not acting in harmony with the intention of the place”

"I always felt that Nasser and Gopal were not acting in harmony with the place and its intentions. That, and other personal reasons, brought me to leave the place."

TESTIMONY OF MR. QQ

"Mr. QQ is such a lovely chap shame on them the way they treated him." -Ex-staff

Complaining Allegedly Led To Firing

Mr. QQ worked at Brockwood for more than a decade. He put up with the Nasser/Mina/Raman/Derek regime for five years until he finally had to speak up. He was sacked a couple of months after the first time he had complained. He believes his firing was because he had complained. He complained to Antonio that some things are not right at the school. Students are in bed with each other - boy and girl - in the middle of the day and so on. Antonio didn't like the criticisms and reacted with silly rationalizations. Later he was fired, without a reason, and they hired someone else, which means his position was needed, and he had been successful at it for over a decade. But he had opened his mouth, so he had to go; at least, that's how it seems to him.

People Unfairly Treated by Big Egotrips

"Something should happen – the way people have been treated has been unfair in the last 5 years since Nasser and Mina have been there."

"They didn’t tell us Nasser and Mina were coming. Suddenly one day they were there, to supposedly review the finances but ended up being on a big ego-trip that hurt the place." Within a few days his boss said "they were there to get rid of us. The atmosphere quickly changed for the worse when they brought their own guy to run his department."

Mina's "Change Management" Blunders

"There was no introduction. We didn't know who they were." The accounts ladies were made redundant very quickly. Mina thought she could manage the finances on her own. But realize that she can't. Then she got some mature students and others involved. "The attitude of Mina was, just get rid of them and save the school some money - in their eyes to save the school money".

"She thought she could handle all the accounts herself. But she couldn't. She ended up engaging mature students and volunteers who were untrained to help with the accounts. They were untrained and there was pressure on them which was unfair. There was a lot of stress on a lot of people unnecessarily".

They treat outside staff differently! Some of the best contributors to any organization are outside stuff and that was the case for Brockwood as well. But they were treated as inferior, yet another sign of mismanagement. The tribal attitude of "us vs. them" is dangerous in an organization that should work cohesively as one unit. That's Krishnamurti 101. Also, love is an organization's best tools. It makes things work! But where the thought made sense of the self, ego is and love is not. There's no shortage of ego among the dictators.

They Fired Good Part-Time Teacher To Save Money, But Spent £4000+ On Their Flat

“Four part time teachers were let go and I know their wages was not high. They got rid of them very quickly. One of the teachers they fired was a great teacher, part-time, who didn't cost that much. She was very helpful to the students. I know her wage was not that much.”

“Soon after firing a teacher who was very valuable to the students, they spent thousands of pounds remodeling and refurnishing Yannick’s flat” after they evicted him, so they can move into his flat, at the West Wing, where Mary Zimbalist and Krishnamurti lived (before it was remodeled by Scott Forbes years ago).

“Yannick was the most dedicated man. He was available 24/7.” After all these years they sacked him, for no reason.” Perhaps his guilt was that he was there at the school before the dictators came in and lived in a beautiful flat they had their eyes on. Mr. QQ confirmed the dictators replaced almost everyone at Brockwood except Antonio, Bill and himself.

Boys And Girls In Bed In The Middle Of Day And Open After-Lunch Kissing

In his meeting with Antonio (which he believes led to his firing), he told Antonio that "the students run themselves. The staff members are not really checking the students enough."

"Adrian was good at keeping some discipline with the students. Now the discipline is gone."

"Andy and myself would go to the students' rooms to do some maintenance work, during the day, and we'd find a boy and a girl in bed together. On more than one occasion. And that was during the day. In the evening God knows what happens."

"Antonio's response was that the students are the happiest they've ever been. Blah blah..."

Mr. QQ was shocked by Antonio's reaction. Antonio must have absolutely disliked hearing these facts. Antonio was probably too afraid to relay them to Mina - or who knows - since as the head of the school, it was his responsibility, and he was a part of the power games Mina and Nasser allegedly were playing. They knew or didn't care what happens at the school.

Several witnesses have expressed that for the management, the school and quality of education is not of primary importance. See section below ("KFT TRUSTEES & BROCKWOOD HAVE FAILED KRISHNAMURTI").

"It was at lunch time and the kids were sitting on the couch, kissing and cuddling. Boys and girls."

Before Nasser and Mina's time, it was not allowed for a boy and girl to be in bed, or to kiss out in the open. He was also concerned about the impression prospective parents would have if they walked around. "Adrian would not have tolerated that."

Hypocrisy: Extreme Rule | No Enforcement

At the same time, a witness and an ex-Brockwood student, whose son went through the application process, said she was surprised at some of the new rules. "They make it clear that you're not allowed to have a girlfriend or boyfriend. That's never been in the rules before."

Before it was like, "do you have to be discreet about relationships...obviously you couldn't have an intimate [sexual] relationships but it was part of growing up. You can't keep teenagers from falling in love. It's just not possible." That was one of the main things that turned off her son about Brockwood, and he decided not to go to there.

Brockwood under Mina and Nasser doesn't allow boyfriend/girlfriend, but reportedly and allegedly, routinely students intimately kiss in the sitting room and have reportedly been seen in bed together. Before, love relationships were allowed, but the guideline was discreteness, and it was enforced. Enforcement is a loaded word; ideally appropriate action is integrated into a school's culture.

Nasser Allegedly Disparaging Student Artwork

“When they first started, there were a few incidents where I realized what Nasser is about. There was an art workshop where students hung their artwork in the dining hall after the workshops. I was in there one day. It was only Nasser and myself walking through. Nasser started laughing at the artwork". Nasser also allegedly made a remark which Mr. QQ recalls being disparaging. Mr. QQ thought, "if these students see him laughing at their artwork, it's demoralizing. You don't do that as a normal person," especially given his position as the head of KFT.

Nasser's alleged "Power Trip", Alleged paranoia that flight simulator certificate could be used for flying a real airplane!!

Mr. QQ is a pilot and has done an aviation workshop for students at Brockwood. At the end of the workshop, he made a certificate for each student as a motivational move so they would remember the class and something to show that they used a flight simulator. This is very normal and even online courses often issue certificates. One year when Nasser and Mina started, "I was doing the same thing and printing certificates. Nasser stopped it. He said if I use this they can say that the they are qualified for flying!!! Which is something ridiculous, absolutely crazy. No way. It's just a certificate that shows they've used a flight simulator in a workshop! I am qualified in aviation law. What Nasser said was just ridiculous. At that time, I realized this guy is on a power trip."

He hears that Nasser was quoting Krishnamurti a lot. He seems to use such quotes to assert his authority, which is exactly what Krishnamurti did not want and sternly warned against.

[Update] A student reported getting the flight simulator certificate as the highlight of his time at Brockwood. But Nasser put a stop to it because he’s a lawyer and in his mind, a flight simulator license can be abused to try to fly an airplane (a rationale that makes absolutely no sense to us).

Nasser's Alleged Intimidating Behavior

"I'm not an aggressive guy. I get on with everybody. But I don't like bullies. Nasser was being a bully." ~ Mr. QQ

In a maintenance meeting after his boss was fired, Nasser was there and staring at Mr. QQ in the eyes, which he found to be intimidating, strange and rude. “Nasser was completely glaring at me in an intimidating way and I don't know why. He is a <snipped>. I'm not an aggressive guy. I get on with everybody. But I don't like bullies. Nasser was being a bully." Bullies do that sometime: stare into someone's eyes to assert their power. When the big boss does that, it's even worse. Krishnamurti spent years talking about importance of healthy relationships, communications, and truth. If you have something to say to someone you tell them, you don't play games. If you're a boss, it's at a minimum very impolite to stare at a multi-level subordinate in the eyes while the chap has absolutely no idea what your problem is.

Nasser's Alleged Intimidating Disrespect For A Female Employee's Space

Mr. QQ cited a lady who said, "on several occasions Nassar got right into her space in an intimidating, authoritarian manner by standing very close to her as she was sitting at her desk, demanding certain things to be done for work. She felt really uneasy."

Nasser & Mina's Alleged Quest For Easy Life

Mr. QQ said he suspects Nasser and Mina are on to something. Perhaps they have their eyes on the money, or it is just a hunger for power, living a good, easy life in one of the most beautiful places in the world without effectively being accountable to anybody. A weak Board of Trustees doesn't count when the same powers that brought these people in and empowered them have huge influence on the Board. Mr. QQ said he does not trust them with <snipped>.

Another witness commented that he doesn't think Nasser allegedly works hard (I put it politely) and "just instigates and strategies."

Racist Attitude?

Mr. QQ is the second person who said that Nasser had allegedly exhibited a racist attitude or treatment of a guest at the Center. There's no concrete evidence of this but since more than one person reported it, it's included here as a possibility and certainly not an accusation.

"I think there was a man of African descent in the quiet room and Nasser had some issue." Ex-staff

Strange Power Structure / Mina's Misleading Title / Nasser's Role

A bursar would never have as much power as Mina. Mr. QQ believes Antonio, the Principal, is submissive to Mina. "I thought she had some kind of a hold over him." That makes Mina the head of the school and not just the Bursar, the head above the principal. It is one freaky organizational structure. Add to that Nasser's role:

“I think Nasser has a voice in the background that gets Mina to take action at the school. He's the puppet master, and I think Mina is a voice for him”.

That refines a theme that has come up in other testimonies: Nasser's hand in the school. It's reportedly there not as doing something, but influencing, controlling, and freaking over trivial details like flight simulation certificates, asserting his psychological sense of self and his will-to-power, staring at subordinates, getting into their space, interrupting a casual friendly conversation with his aura of authority and fear...everything Krishnamurti dreaded.

Nonexistent Complaints Process

The September 2021 inspection raised an issue with the complaint process. The reality, as Mr. QQ said, is that they don't welcome complaints or grievances. "There is no HR there. There's nowhere for any staff member to go to file a complaint except with Mina or Antonio. They got complete control over the power," apparently without much accountability. "If you don't completely fit in or voice an opinion they don't like, they get rid of you. There's no place to go complain. I've seen this with other staff members as well."

Brockwood's Culture Declined

Mr. QQ is one of the very few who spend several years before and after Nasser/Mina/Raman/Derek allegedly took over the place. After Nasser and Mina came on board, eventually he felt some basic courtesies like “opening a door for you or holding the door" have degraded.

The place "did become more self-centered", which is so against K's teachings. K is about less the "psychological sense of self" and not more! It makes perfect sense how and why this happened. Nasser and Mina allegedly instilled a self-centered culture, starting with their own behavior to quench their greed for more and more power, micromanagement, control. Top leadership sets the tone of an organization.

On one occasion while installing a heavy wardrobe for Raman's man, Abhijit Padte allegedly just sat there, watched him, and didn't offer any help.

“There was always whispers. Every time you went into a room. People being secretive all the time. Really strange atmosphere.” Again, an atmosphere of fear and everything Krishnamurti dreaded.

"They were not that interested in the students, I felt. Since NASA and Mina came, the actual education seems secondary."

Various witnesses have expressed the same view. Related to the students and their rooms, one witness noted:

"The only thing I can add is about the lack of hygiene and how disgusting some students rooms are, with really dirty bedding and clothing, I complained about this to the housekeeper several times and he said he would speak to the person who should check it but for me it was an ongoing issue I kept seeing, I would not want my child living in that filth."

Adrian, Gopal, Bill, Antonio

"When Adrian and Bill were running the school it was the best times." This was before Nasser and Mina took over. Adrian was one of the first people they sacked and nobody knew why. Bill went with the flow and became part of the Nasser and Mina team, as their subordinate. Both Antonio and Bill are close associates of Friedrich Grohe and Nasser and Mina probably realized they couldn't get rid of them as they needed a few people from the past for the sake of continuity.

"The atmosphere changed when Gopal came and it was not necessarily for the better", Mr. QQ contends. Gopal had some ideas that raised eyebrows and seemed too progressive for even a K school. For example, students teach themselves and go to a teacher only if they had a problem! What's the point of the teacher then? "This may work for older students but for a 13-year-old it's more difficult."

Inwoods, Helena

He said the collapse of Inwoods was a real shame. And like everyone else, he expressed very high praise for HEADTEACHER.

The first phrase that came to his mind about Inwoods was, "maybe it was a jealousy thing" (firing of HEADTEACHER) allegedly on the part of Nasser, Mina, Helena, Antonio...

Like several other witnesses he felt Helena had a strong influence on Antonio. "I had the feeling that that might be an angle, where Helena may want to take over Inwoods. She has a preschool."

Mr. QQ found it strange that Helena took her preschool kids to have picnic near a cesspool. "The sewage was leaking. It was winter time. She chose that spot for some reason although there are so many nicer places, and away from leaking sewage and cesspool. Right next to the sewage which has been leaking for months." He told her politely what are you doing here. "Leaking sewage plant, little kids, in the winter. Where is the common sense?" Helena says after she was informed she didn’t go back there.

TESTIMONY OF LADY QQQ / Letter to ISI

“Many staff and parents were gaslighted”

URGENT - Information for the Inspectorate of Brockwood Park and Inwoods Small School (inspection 21/09/2021)

“To whom it may concern,

It has been brought to my attention that an ISI inspection of the above schools is due to take place tomorrow, Tuesday 21st September 2021.

I am a former employee of the KFT, having worked as the admin and recruitment manager at Inwoods Small School from January 2018-March 2020 when the original school closed. My daughter also attended the school from 2017-2020.

From November of 2019 until the demise of the school in March 2020, many staff and parents were gaslighted by members of the management team. The trustees of the school handed the reconstruction over to the management team and staff and parents were prevented from having their concerns over the manner in which this was undertaken, heard by them.

It was a long drawn out process, without mediation and effectively culminated in the entire staff and parent community being forced to leave the school.

I feel that it would be advisable for the ISI to look very closely and carefully at the demeanour, intention and integrity of two most prominent figures in the management team and to examine carefully whether the quality of education is underpinned by a healthy and honest ethos.

I would like this email to remain anonymous.

Kind Regards”

This Report Called “A Blessed Relief”

This is one of several complements we have received which is nice given the tremendous effort that we put into this project. Her statement is presented in this section because it’s more than just “thank you”.

Lady QQQ sent this note to our task-force:

“What a blessed relief - at last!

I put in a request for an urgent OFSTED and Charity Commission inspection with my comments of concern delivered prior the last inspection.

So many of us have been gaslighted and mistreated by the KFT management team and I feel that justice and closure is long overdue.

Many thanks to you brave folks,

Warmly”

TESTIMONY OF LADY D

“Inwoods was a very special place.” They were very impressed with Inwoods and the Director, HEADTEACHER, so they decided to send their child to Inwoods, although before that the child was happy at their school. “It was a good move. She got a lot out of a completely different approach to education, and she made good friends”. The children felt safe there. “That for me was an important one because it encouraged the children to be what they wanted to be. The staff were really lovely people. I have very high impressions of HEADTEACHER in particular…she was really pivotal in that school… she put her whole heart and soul into it. And people gravitate towards people like that, period. She attracted some really good teachers. She was really kind, really hard-working, all the children loved her and trusted her completely.”

Lady DD thought Brockwood Trustees should have given more support to Inwoods, and this hampered the great work it was doing. Support in this context could be understood as the opposite of everything that Nasser/Mina/Raman were allegedly doing to undermine Inwoods. At a minimum, they should have let it live and prosper and continue to flourish, educate and change children’s lives for the better, instead of trying to monkey-wrench it for the creepy motives illustrated in the testimonies herein.

Lady DD was appalled at how KFT undermined HEADTEACHER and Inwoods. They told her that she needed to go on a sabbatical. That’s their typical line/approach when they want to get rid of someone. It seems dishonest. A sabbatical means you will have a place when you come back. But KFT apparently sends people on sabbatical knowing when they come back, they will not have a place – so essentially instead of firing them, they send them on sabbatical, which is worse because if someone is fired, they’re free to look at their next step in life. But this seemingly dishonest conduct of KFT gives a false impression which ends up being confusing and problematic down the road and impact people’s lives negatively.

Reportedly, HEADTEACHER tried to negotiate the terms of the proposed sabbatical, but they kept dodging the issue and finally said they were firing her instead of offering her a sabbatical. This was all before she had signed her NDA so she was free to talk to people; and we talked to some of them. But the rumor had gone around that HEADTEACHER should have gone on sabbatical but refused, which was not true. The terms of each sabbatical are negotiated; but after making the offer, KFT reportedly declined to negotiate the terms (which is normal for every sabbatical) and flip flopped, saying it wasn't an option.

“There were no discussions around it”. It was a dictatorial approach. Nasser, Mina and Antonio reportedly attended 3 meetings with different parents. Most parents went to the first one. To Lady DD, it felt like “it was a done deal period”. There was no discussion with the parents to take their consideration into effect. The dictator had his/her mind set on conquering Inwoods and getting rid of its much loved Director who had made Inwoods the great school that it was. “We really prepared for that meeting. We had a list of questions. We loved the school and if felt we could have trusted the new way it was going to be done we would have stayed, but they didn’t give us any sense of trust. And there were no plans, no outlook, no clarity on who would run the school and how, and how the parents would be a part of that, etc. They seemed set on first wiping out HEADTEACHER from the power map perceived in their heads. But they hadn’t thought beyond that destruction.”

They said Antonio would run it in the interim, but the parents didn’t have confidence in this option since Antonio was already very occupied at Brockwood.

One of the great things about Inwoods was that “as a parent you were a part of how it ran which is why it felt so safe. All of the children knew all of the parents.” Parents were there twice a week to help out, so it was run by the staff and the parents. Mina and Nasser allegedly wanted to distance the parents “and make it into a school where the parents were not a part of it”. Why not have the parents involved? The setup Lady DD is describing is like a village, a family, and a community, where a young child is immensely nurtured, which is what a child needs and Krishnamurti spoke at length about. It’s not just about academics.

“Education as a mutual task was key in HEADTEACHER’s vision. It was K who said that. It was hard work but I felt really wholesome. You felt that you wanted to be part of that; you wanted to get to know the kids; and yeah it was good.”

Mina, Nasser, and Antonio with backing from core of political power, Raman, allegedly “didn’t want those parents to continue because they knew a lot of the parents felt that Nasser and Mina didn't want to keep the parents and the children carrying on that had been there because they knew that we all are friends and supporters of HEADTEACHER's vision. And it wasn't just HEADTEACHER, it was the other staff as well. It was a heartful school; the kids loved it and flourished”.

K talked about the importance of parent involvement as part of the process of learning and working together towards a right education, obviously, as the parents are an important part of the upbringing and education of their children. (Education doesn't just happen within the school walls). However, at Inwoods, reportedly the parents weren't making key decisions and “running” the school; that would have been very difficult to manage as parents are not one body but individuals with different ideas about learning and schools.

They were involved in practical ways such as cleaning, tidying, and gardening. They were also invited to meetings, dialogues, and discussions regarding the functioning and vision of the place. To organize a place in this way requires a great deal of trust and care in relationships - apparently not the way Nasser, Mina, Raman, Antonio were managing their relationship with Inwoods and some others who report a lack of trust. Being control freaks would have never allowed Inwoods to flourish as it did under HEADTEACHER's Krishnamurtian, love-caring-respect-centered approach to relationships. Different talent/mindset/skills are needed when you are including people and delegating and utilizing the power of love than when you're controlling and acting dictatorially by utilizing fear.

The excuse of Nasser and Mina allegedly gave was that “HEADTEACHER had become too powerful, and it wasn’t healthy!!!” OMG! It wasn’t healthy for whom? The dictators were threatened by HEADTEACHER’s power? And what was HEADTEACHER’s power? It wasn’t the kind that dictators gain – it was the power of love!! The love HEADTEACHER and her staff gave to the kids and their parents: the love that they got back and that love that sustained this amazing school. And the dictators found that threatening. That sums up the scandal!

It’s amazing how many different, contradictory excuses were told to different people – which is very typical of lies. Lies are inconsistent.

“That wasn't my impression at all. She led that school from behind; that was the phrase that stuck in my mind. And she wasn't a leader as such in a traditional sense; she knew how to bring out the best in her staff; she never spoke more or longer than she needed to; she had that very female approach that you don't often see in men – sorry, no offense.”

“She led from behind and that really I thought was an incredible quality that she had, and she did it very well. So to accuse her of sort of taking the school off on a limb and doing it in her own way, I thought was really unfair. I heard Mina and Nasser were accusing her of breaking away from Brockwood. I heard very often the opposite from HEADTEACHER that she made several attempts to invite them to various events and gatherings and that they would never come, and she wanted to keep the relationship going but it becomes so tense and difficult. It took a huge toll on HEADTEACHER”. And they had the nerve to say HEADTEACHER didn’t engage them! This is sooo bad. This is like a person who owes you money saying that you own him money!

It was just one big dishonest screw-up. They gave so many contrary reasons to different people which seems to indicate they were just lying and trying to make up excuses to justify their attack on HEADTEACHER, Inwoods, and the Inwoods’ students, parents, teachers, supporters, and volunteers. The latest excuses I hear in this testimony are that HEADTEACHER was getting too powerful which they viewed as unhealthy. So they clearly know how unhealthy too much power can be, but they’ve been constantly getting more power themselves.

The latest excuses seems to be the most telling. It shows an apparent core motive behind their crusade against Inwoods: wanting to have absolutely power. They didn’t like the fact that HEADTEACHER was running such a successful gig and was so loved versus them being disliked by so many people. They had alienated many and instilled a spirit of fear, which is so radically contradictory to the spirit of K and what he taught.

So HEADTEACHER, as beautifully described by Lady DD and so many others, is the kind of personality that would be a threat to the dictators who seem rather to be power hungry, egotistic, control freaks. It’s unhealthy and should be an inspiration, but the dictators are not inspired by people driven by intelligence, love, clarity, happiness, and other positive qualities. HEADTEACHER was so contrary to the mindset of the dictators, so they toppled her! And down with her went a great school! For shame!

“Being able to use the facilities at Brockwood dwindled. I heard that they used to do it a lot more and there was a more of a sense of being part of a larger community, and that got less and less under Mina and Nasser’s regime. When her daughter was there, they were allowed to occasionally use the pottery studio and nothing else. Contrast that with Helena’s nursery which is reportedly using Brockwood’s outdoor facilities without any issues [she also used the outside classroom built in the woods. It was a timber construction]. That’s how it should be. It’s crazy not to. It doesn’t surprise me that it’s easier for Helena now because she’s Antonio’s wife and Brockwood doesn’t have to worry about looking hypocritical if they allow Helena’s school kids use the facilities but restrict Inwoods’ under HEADTEACHER’s direction because of the management strange motives.”

Impressions of Nasser Shamim

Any impressions of Nasser? “Not good, if I’m honest. In the meeting he was quite defensive and non-forthcoming with information and a bit rude.” She had a one on one with Nasser early on because they were considering living at Brockwood. She met with Gopal who was welcoming the fact that she worked at Winchester University. Gopal felt it would be good for Brockwood to have more links. “I was shocked when I joined a group of staff at Winchester University who were really interested in contemplative pedagogy” and they had never heard of Brockwood Park which is but ten minutes away! That’s what happens when you run a school as an isolated shell!

“I was shocked to learn Brockwood was its own little universe and not linked to the local community!! Gopal was trying to change all that. When I met with Nasser, he was very unwelcoming!”

A repeated theme as expressed by so many witnesses: “There was no sense of curiosity, interest or shared respect. I felt really put off and decided I didn’t want to live at Brockwood. That was a pivotal meeting for me. I felt I don’t like this guy. I don’t often not like people.”

“I really disliked this guy. I thought maybe it’s a cultural difference but then I realized it’s much more than a cultural difference. I can attest having come from the same culture as Nasser and Mina that is absolutely the contrary. Iranian/Persian culture is very welcoming, warm, affectionate, caring, considerate, respectful, humble, grateful…”

“He was very condescending and a bit patronizing, actually. They didn’t want families there because one parent has to take care of a child, and that's one resource less for Brockwood. It's a speculation.” See section "Primary School at Brockwood" below for a related discussion.

Lady DD’s teacher was a friend of Krishnamurti and was considering sending his kids to Brockwood, but he heard that “the place had really changed and gone off on a slight bad direction so that's why he didn't send his kids there as teenagers. I thought that’s kind of sad, but it confirmed my gut feeling.”

Brockwood felt like a bubble to Lady DD, disconnected from the people who live in that area. “I don’t think it’s healthy. Then you get into danger of becoming a cult…with no link to local community”.

Impressions of Mina Masoumian

Allegedly, “Mina and Nasser were both hated by many. I tried not to [hate them], but it was hard because they were clearly acting in some not wholesome ways. I met Mina a few times. I felt uncomfortable around her.”

Lady DD said there was a rumor that someone at the accounting department showed up to work one day; Mina was allegedly sitting at her desk and said, this is my desk now, and that was the end of her job. Lady DD didn’t have direct experience of this, so this may be inaccurate – however, similar things have been reported by others where people’s roles were undermined by going around them, or they would come back from holiday and their office is gone. These were direct witnesses so not hearsay.

TESTIMONY OF MR. S

“Last time I saw her [staff member] she couldn't wait to get out of Brockwood because of the way she was treated by management.”

Mr. S. was witness to all that happened during the disastrous management of Raman, Nasser, Mina, Derek, Antonio, Bill that culminated in the implosion of Inwoods.

It’s All About Ego, Power, Control

“You can’t have got further away from K’s teachings than where we are at Brockwood now. It’s all about people’s egos, power, control”.

Mr. S resembled Brockwood to “something like Dianetics in the way people are manipulated, quietened, moved on [fired], sanctioned, etc. - that’s the reality at Brockwood now. There’s no openness, compassion, truth, love, etc., and Raman has a very big part in making that happen.” [This interview took place before Raman becomes even more powerful and assumes the official role of head of KFT].

“There's a lot of need to control involved in Nasser and Mina's movements. Anybody who confronted the issue or didn't go along with it was targeted or ousted altogether. There's certainly a need to control everything”.

Dishonesty

Mr. S. said, “When they target somebody and move that person on, the truth of it is not told”. They bring excuses and make up stories until the person driven out reveals the reality of how he or she was mistreated, pressured to sign an agreement, etc. which usually clashed with the version Brockwood management had made up. It’s unknown if reports of such pressures crossed the lines of laws such as the UK’s coercive controlling behaviour laws. Those who signed NDAs ended up being quiet, so we do not know details unless the NDAs are undone by the Charity Commission should that become necessary.

Wicked Lack of Transparency & Weak Trustees

“If Trustees are wishy washy and weak, people will do what they want.”

Before Nasser and Mina’s time, for the trustee meetings, a packet was prepared including reports from various divisions, and the final compiled report was available at least to people who contributed to who often presented their section to the trustees. Nasser and Mina changed that. “After about a year that completely stopped so nobody was going to the trustee meetings to give any kind of opinion”, and even the contributors were not allowed to get a copy of the final report, which probably means Nasser and Mina manipulated it to say what they wanted to say, and lack of personal presentation removed risk of truth coming out.

It was indeed the trustees’ fault for accepting such a behavior. They could have demanded that the presentations continue. But being as passive as they reportedly are, it’s no surprise that here again, the trustees failed the Trust, and management overpowered the trustees.

Dictatorships Don’t Like Transparency

A lawyer we were discussing this subject with immediately noticed that the names of KFT trustees are not on their website. They used to be because transparency used to be a good thing there! Exact same story as KFA after apparently Grohe’s influence negatively impacted the place. One of the things the Executive Director Grohe’s “soldier” brought in did was to remove the names of the trustees from the website. Dictatorships don’t like transparency.

Dialogue Isn’t Their Way

“They never had dialogue in the [many] years I was there. They never part-took in dialogue with anybody whom they ousted. They push them out, they cut the rope, they're finished. It's a real shame. Dialogue isn't their way. because then the truth can come out. It seemed dialogue within the organization wasn't there, let alone dialogue with people outside. It all gets shut down. If they open up the dialogue the facts will emerge and then you have to act on what's best - not what you want. That was not their way of operation. An important decision requires conversation and arriving at an answer -- in dialogue you'd explore the options and possibilities. I believe even that was lacking.”

Nasser Allegedly Memorizing K and Abusing it to Fortify his Authority

Mr. S. said a part of the problem is that Nasser who is running the show is “memorizing K and uses it like a weapon to push an agenda, a view, a situation…K is used as a tool.: K warned about this for decades and also the problem of authority, including alleged abuse of his teachings as Nasser has reportedly and allegedly used for authoritarian purposes.

"Nasser using K as a tool for fortifying his authority” goes extremely against K's teachings. He specifically did not want that and warned against it, especially in his schools. Look up the letters to schools from the two books with the same title. K was a wise man, saw this coming, and warned against it.

Mr. S. commented on a Trustee who walked out because of the way Nasser/Mina/Raman regime were acting. “He was one of the ones who came from the real world. He understood about the energy of the place. I was sad that he left. He was one of the good guys.”

Another Sign of Weak Management

He also recalled, “I've watched these guys operate. What they do is to put the hatches down* and ignore, ignore till it goes away. They do nothing until reality moves on. They hide until it goes away.” It is a clear sign of weak management-by-ignorance. But this is so contrary to Krishnamurti’s teachings who teaches to pay attention to everything. What you ignore comes back to haunt you. It’s only through dealing with things they can resolve. From a management science standpoint, Nasser/Mina/Raman’s alleged approach by ignorance or management-by-blocking is inept for a K foundation/school. It was never intended to be a dictatorship.

*Hatches is a nautical term for the door between the outside and inside of a ship to be put down when there’s perception of storm. It is the same phrase as “batten down the hatches” – which is psychologically blocking, suppressing, avoiding, escaping, hiding, and all that Krishnamurti was so much against. Deal with it! The man who started KFT spent a lifetime teaching to deal with it, look at it, understand it, and let it tell its story. But if you’re burning in anxiety, insufficiency, egotism, search for psychological security. If you’re confused, insecure, miserable, pathetic, petty, power hungry, tribal, then you block, avoid, suppress, escape, etc. – which seems to be the way Brockwood management has been operating at times. Again, it is so contrary to K’s teachings; therefore, they should resign, and the Trustees who have enabled these ways of operation should be ousted as well. Krishnamurti deserves better than to be bogged down in mediocrity: he dreaded mediocrity and spoke at length about it.

This style of management-by-ignorance follows KFA’s path. In fact, KFA instituted this lame, irresponsible way of management a while back to ignore and discredit views that called out its shortcomings. In doing so, it engaged in the worst of what K so-called “cunning animals” do: discredit the messenger in order to discard the message. The ugly behaviors in the K foundations are not often seen in the corporate world. Poor Krishnamurti!

Someone was obsessively hitting my website looking at the letters to Nasser and also Raman. I guess that it was Nasser. In their world, they can choose to block someone because they are so incompetent in dealing with the topic while in the background not only don’t they ignore the person, but they obsessively and repeatedly read what the person wrote. They are probably making images of those who may be reading the letters. Hypocritical at best.

Mr. S. said, “They're not used to people saying no or to say I am not happy with that answer – the nonsense answers they give to avoid the issue. They're not used to anyone confronting and challenging them.” Now think of what K said about challenging authority! He viewed most of the trustees as passive and gentle and overrun by "very strong, forceful characters" like Nasser and Mina.

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) / Cults

Mr. S said, “The way Brockwood is being run is very similar to how you would run a cult. The way the cults control the people is very similar to Brockwood. Use of gagging orders (NDAs) is also similar. At some point the international trustees or somebody [charity commission] has to say how many NDAs are there, why were they issued, and let’s talk to people and see what really happened.”

We already know the situation around some of these NDAs and reportedly some were signed in strange circumstances and questionable ways. “They’re using NDAs to help them stay in power,” Mr. S contends. People who signed NDAs talked about their grievances to others before signing, and KFT could not control what people told others (who told others and told us) before the NDAs were signed.

The Trustees themselves allegedly seem somewhat "gagged" by Nasser and Mina's legal talk: things are purported as a "legal issue", therefore, keep quiet.

Cult-like Management

"The techniques they've been using are recognized cultish type means to control information. Like the oppression. The technique is used in places like the Scientology cult.

The September 2021 Inspection

We talked about the inspection that happened in September. The results were out recently. Management did not get a good grade. It could have been the reason Raman has replaced Nasser recently, essentially the same thing as before: “meet the new boss, the same as the old boss” as the song goes… I won’t get fooled again! But the aim is to make it seem that there’s been a change while the power structure remains the same.

Mr. S: “I’m really surprised this happened because Raman always works in the shadows, he always has – he just says, oh, I’m just here to say hello to the students – but he’s been termed as the most powerful man at Brockwood/KFT by several people.”

I am surprised too that Raman likes to be in the background. The fact that he’s moved to the forefront gives me the opinion that this may have been a desperate move: he was reportedly behind the mess, and sugar hit the fan. Given the weak Board and Raman’s power (gained from Grohe’s influence), things had to be kept under control and handled by insiders. But there’s no fundamental change in the mindset, power structure, and approach that resulted from the current mess. A much bigger change is needed, and it’s probably not possible without intervention from the Charity Commission. The status quo can’t reinvent itself.

Is Raman still on Friedrich Grohe’s payroll as well as serving as head of KFT? Perhaps contractually that poses no issues, but for a large donor to have so much power may be an issue.

“They feel there is no accountability. Who are they accountable to?” The trustees. But several people have reported their impression that the Trustees appear weak compared to the “management team”, which often gets a rubber stamp approval from Trustees. The Old Boys’ Derek Hook is part of the Trustee team as well, and reportedly and allegedly an empowerer of Nasser and Mina. Gary Primrose is very close to Derek and has lived and still lives in the same house in the Lake District. Raman is allegedly tremendously influential on the Trustees. Gisele Balleys’ close affiliation with the Grohe team is well known.

Nasser (Mr. Enlightened)'s K-Quoting, Alleged Shouting At People

Allegedly, “she got shouted at by Nasser and cried”, Mr. S recalls of Lady U. who came to Brockwood as a prospective chef.

Lady W. is a world-class chef who was fired. “She is the most amazing chef ever and has worked all over the world for top clients. She is a really lovely lady and also a Yoga instructor.”

Mr. S stated that many come to Brockwood “with a certain expectation based on their reading of the teachings. And they get disappointed to see how the place is run so contrary to it.”

“I know how these guys operate. They're very clever at boxing off, shutting doors, stonewalling, and when there’s an inspection moving things so they don't appear as they are. They tidy it up tight.”

It reminds me of similar movement at KFA by another Grohe lineage installed manager, Jacob Sluijter or “Jaap”, who had the same modus operandi (probably still does). He was caught telling volunteer and staff to “look busy” to impress donors and show that a lot is happening, as one insider testified. K challenged people to explore the power and beauty of living without a psychological image. It is yet another case of contradiction between the heads of these foundations and K’s philosophy.

When I wrote to ask Nasser to get his point of view on the Inwoods implosion, he cowardly blocked me, and applied the block for the entire organization! A silly thing to do because I have many email addresses, should I try to reach my friends at their Brockwood address.

Allegedly, “they are very, very cunning”, Mr. S said. It reminded me of K’s expression, “cunning animals”.

Raman Patel

"I saw Raman very much involved in the day-to-day decision making and essentially the strategies behind things. And even down to being at meetings, at the Center, about work that needed to be done at the Center; he was involved in those decisions. At the time he wasn't even employed"!

“All the time the Trustees are backing them. Raman is backing them.” Mr. S ,who knows the place inside out, clearly stated that Raman Patel is a central pole of power - not because of any spiritual or moral greatness but because he's on Friedrich Grohe's payroll. There's no way anyone else with the exact same profile would have had so much power and influence if he didn't have the clout of Big Money.

Raman Patel at the time held no official role except for being Mr. Grohe’s man. The central pole of power should be the Board of Trustees. But real power lies somewhere else. And since these interviews, Raman took on official role of head of KFT, which is mind-boggling given his profile.

“With the support of Raman, it's impossible to have any effect on them.” This is how powerful Mr. Grohe’s man has become. Backed by big money, maintaining a guru image, pulling strings in the background, an all-powerful figure with no official role for a long time, and unqualified in our opinion to be the head of KFT, which he’s recently become.

Perhaps an indication of the Trustees’ weakness is a trustee’s statement to Mr. S that they “don't like any kind of confrontation.” It included confronting the mismanagement. “If they are not going to confront any issues then nothing ever is going to change.”

"Hi Reza. I walked with <a lady> just after the incident and she was still crying. Nasser had shouted at her as in his mind she could not do the job and had to go. I witnessed that side of him once and described him as having the face of a contorted thug."

Wall of Silence

Mr. S’s employer received a job application from an ex-Brockwood staff member who had left her role after six months of working for Mina. Mr. S was asked to obtain a reference. He placed a call to a long-term friend who worked in the same department at Brockwood Park. Apparently Mina found out that this inquiry is being made. Mr. S’s friend “was shaking out of fear” that on Monday Mina’s going to ask her about it and she didn't know what she needs to tell her. She's a 45-year-old chartered accountant and tough as nails. She was “shaking in fear” that the management would be chastising her for prospects of provided a reference for someone.

She was told that she was not allowed to talk with Mr. S! “There's a wall of silence. Nobody is talking to me. We've been very close friends for five years. And they told her that she cannot talk to me. I'm okay with that but it's awful that they're controlling to that extent.”

Several people have reported similar behavior and the spirit of fear at Brockwood, which is so contradictory to Krishnamurti’s ideas. Their closest friends stopped talking to them because it was reportedly mandated by management with the apparently dishonest excuse / threat that it’s a legal issue. They found this very difficult and psychologically painful. “I can't have lunch with an old friend or even a cup of tea. Because they're so paranoid. Because of what's going on with Inwoods…”

Mr. S. recalls, “Even people like my administrative assistant who was sitting next to me for years is not allowed to talk to me.”

Mr. S. said about Nasser and Mina, allegedly, “they brought a business view where bottom line is the most important thing…Anybody who stood up against this approach [of treating Brockwood as a business], was targeted and got rid of…They only retain yes people whom they could control…using K as an excuse while K would have been very much against some very questionable ways of conduct of the dictators.” It’s questionable whether their motive is even purely financial for the well-being of KFT/Brockwood, which is not an issue with millions in the bank. A main driver / motive appears to be a craving for absolutely control, power, ego, security for themselves – all contrary to K’s teachings, in our opinion.

Our Responsibility

“We have to think about the people who come afterwards. They're going to find something that isn't what it should be because our generation just let it slip away.” Wise words by an ex-staff member who is extremely alienated and disturbed by Raman/Nasser/Mina allegedly running KFT/Brockwood down. Think of "the man from Seattle" story that K told!

Another Raman Recruit

Mr. S: “He kind of treats everybody like servants…it was things like that over and over where he treats people badly; his energy I can see why he and Raman get on. It’s not a nice energy.” Mr. S had to approve expenditures since he was the head of procurement (to make sure they’re getting value, quality, competitive offers, etc.), but the guy was buying things without going through the official approval process. So Mr. S asked him and he never got an answer. Mr. S: “I guess if Raman is backing him, he can do whatever he wants.” He resembled it to something too risky to publish.

They put him in a key role that meant full access for the management team.

Tribalism / Division

"The emphasis was to narrow the place down to residential people who they can control and monitor very closely. It's become like Dianetics, which is a cult. Very similar working practices." Most people were for having everyone as one team regardless if they were residential or non-residential. Nasser allegedly changed this so that the outside people were kept outside and the residential people are tightly controlled.

A picture at the time of this interview on the Brockwood website did not include any of the outside staff! Seems egotistic and tribal, and a managerial shortcoming. I reflect back to my professional project management experience and the importance of building a performant team, which is only possible when there’s internal oneness. It’s right up K’s alley: fragmentation, division, loss of energy.

Mr. S found it “terrible” that Mr. Grohe does favors for his extended inner circle and the favorites chosen by them, and not for others who'd been there for decades and are so dedicated. Mr. S thinks there should be no favoritism when it comes to benefits like taking trips abroad. I totally agree. These are benefits that should be spread to all staff equitably and not just to “favorites”, which gives rise to a tribal, divisive attitude which is at the heart of these scandals.

Management's Competence Issues

"As soon as it became clear that Nasser had his eyes on my department, and was trying to make decisions on operations which he knew nothing about, I decided to resign". He couldn't handle working for management that aside from many other relationship issues was trying to control areas they had no competence in. That's how a place gets ruined. Same story with Mina as another witness noted, coming across as clueless in certain areas due to her lack of expertise in field of education, yet being the most powerful person at the School.

Nasser Taking Jerome Blanche’s Role

Jerome Blanche has been at the Trust for 26 years (since 1996). He was the executive director. Mr. S recalls: “Jerome was at all the trustee meetings, he was a high-level member of the staff (executive director), everybody loved him. He was very well respected. Suddenly an email went around. But it didn't say who had written it. It said just to let you know Jerome is no longer the director of the foundation. It is now Nasser. It was worded in not such a nice way. I told Bill that this is disgusting. who wrote it? I want to get to the bottom of this. Bill said I don't know. It seemed nobody wanted to take responsibility for that statement.”

“The way they just dumped him as though he was nothing. After all that good work he had done. He was treated very badly.”

Question arose as we had this discussion with the team, why did Jerome stay on? Someone familiar with the topic said Brockwood is home to some long-term staff, and they love the place and love Krishnamurti and the Centre. “It wouldn't be fair to think that everybody who was mistreated would just leave. Some people think they should hold their ground.”

We cannot speak for Jerome because we have not spoken with him, though we are friends with him but due to the sensitivity of the subject and him being an employee we didn’t want to put him in a precarious position.

“I understand some of these people are very gentle people.” This theme kept coming up. Many people who are attracted to this work and this place are gentle, kind, sensitive people – the opposite of the behavior the Trust’s management has exhibited.

Image Making

Nasser was adamant about hiding how old the Center building looks like, trying to hide its age. Anybody can find out by Googling it, and age of a building is not a bad thing, unless Nasser is planning to sell the Center's building :-) Nasser ruled against the opinion of two experts, including the famous architect of the Center, Professor Keith Critchlow, without having any expertise in the subject matter!

Nasser seemed to be making an image of people's image of the building (if he has that level of empathy, which I doubt, but image making and empathy are not necessarily the same as empathy requires sensitivity, which doesn't seem to be a strength of Nasser or else he wouldn't have acted in the way so many witnesses have reported).

Similarly, KFA's head, Jaap Sluijter, is of the same mindset, which is contrary to Krishnamurti's teachings. K spoke at length about the perils of image making, understanding the process of making psychological images, and freedom from that process, which is a dominant one. But Nasser and Jaap both have made images of others' images, which seems to be a driving force in their management style. In fact, Jaap told a group of volunteers and staff at KFA, to "look busy" to impress the public. Nasser allegedly went around the experts so that people wouldn't get the impression of the K Center building as being "old". “Everyone knows how old it is, or can look it up", one expert said. Plus, what difference does it make? England has beautiful buildings that are almost 900 years old. And the Center was built in the 1980's, hello!

Abuse

Someone mentioned: “A lot of people gave their life to this place. Their lives, integrity, gentleness; which has been abused.” We debated the meaning of the term “abuse”. Is it abusive to shout at an employee which made her cry for example? We believe it is the right word.

One alleged victim of mistreatment at the Trust said for a long time he felt shy to speak up. We cannot say what the mistreatment was but we can say it was not sexual. Someone commented: “A lot of people who are abused are too shy to speak up. You may feel embarrassed that you could have done something different.”

TESTIMONY OF Mr. GG

No Trust in Management

“I was never able to trust Nasser…There was so much unexplained as they were explaining what they had in mind and how they wanted to transform the place – it felt so untruthful…To this day, I don’t understand how the Trustees gave them so much power and entrusted them…"

Mr. GG joined Brockwood because of his long-term study of and interest in Krishnamurti’s teachings. He left Brockwood disillusioned because of Nasser and Mina’s alleged mismanagement.

He said he tried not to take sides. He became “very distrustful to people who were running the place [Nasser, Mina, et al]” because of “the way Nasser and Mina maneuvered themselves into this position of power...and the way people were treated and sidelined…”

He said that Nasser and Mina ended up in a most beautiful flat at Brockwood after firing Yannick who lived there with his family (see below).

Authoritarian Antonio

Another witness said that Yannick asked Antonio why he had to move out of his flat. Antonio's answer was because he's the Director! Not even the courtesy of giving a reason to a man who was there for almost 20 years!! It makes sense because the reason would have been "because Nasser and Mina told me to evict you." Why? Because they want to move into your flat. So instead of saying, "Yannick you need to move out because Nasser and Mina want your flat", Antonio's answer was effectively, "Because I'm the director and I say so."

“Antonio became more authoritarian.” That’s interesting because I always felt an authoritarian flair to Antonio; and when his bosses are suddenly extremely authoritarianism, that gives him license to become even more authoritarian. Krishnamurti talked about this at length and even has a whole book named after it. You are the world, and the world is you. Management science scholars and professionals also know very well that the CEO sets the tone/culture for the entire organization.

Also, a witness mentioned another staff member in Nasser and Mina’s camp who treated her brutally. Their attitude reverberates in the organization and might send the implicit message that if you like your job, be like us or we will reward similar behavior.

There were factions within the organization, as Mr. GG said, who were accusing each other of corruption and taking advantage of the place.

Terms of the New Employment Contracts

Mr. GG is aware of human resources topics. He condemns the way Nasser and Mina were allegedly treating people. He found the new work contracts as outrageous. He contends that the new employment contract effectively stipulated that "people could be fired for any reason, at any time, without explanation, without recourse"!

Nasser, A Krishnamurti Authority Wannabe

During group dialogues, when "Nasser came in, he made it sound like he was Telling us about K. That he had understood the teachings, he had changed, and he's talking to us from a superior position".

Nasser was "quoting Krishnamurti left and right". Nasser told Mr. GG how he had "changed". Mr. GG pushed back that "you're still comparing the old me with the current me" -- the "me", sense of self is still there in you obviously, judging by your behavior! "Nasser got really really angry, irritated, defensive" (proof of Mr. GG's remark!).

Nasser, Raman, Gopal, Gossip

Part of his distrust in management was he could also not figure out what motivated Nasser and Mina. Early on, he said, Nasser seemed "to want to pull me into his inner circle". Nasser invited him for dinner and he went to Nasser's place. Mina was also there. Mr. GG was shocked how Nasser and his inner circle, including Raman and Gopal, were allegedly gossiping about people -- putting people down -- back biting -- and Nasser was allegedly showing a lot of hostility towards a lot of people. "I had very bad feeling about him in the beginning".

"Raman seems to be one of the main influences behind the whole thing" and that it would have been impossible for Nasser and Mina to have so much power without Raman's backing. At that dinner Mr. GG "didn't say anything. I guess they felt I wasn't going to be one of them". Mr. GG wasn't into gossip and finding unity with others by gossiping behind absent 3rd parties' backs. Having lived in the UK, this behavior unfortunately is tolerated in the UK. I can't stand it, and never seen it as such anywhere else. But I also know many British people who are too noble to get engaged in backstabbing others for fun.

Eleanor Roosevelt wrote: "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." A small minded, tabloid-grade exchange at Krishnamurti’s place, doesn’t do him justice! He spent a lifetime promoting noble ideas.

Raman, Gopal and Nasser were reportedly of the same gossipy mindset that evening, according to Mr. GG. I know this well, having been with Gopal in similar situations where I saw he got a kick out of gossiping about people -- which felt so awkward.

I have also had allergic reactions being around that kind of discussion where some of the same people were badmouthing others -- as a way of finding a common ground in the light of the opposite, and getting some kind of creepy joy out of it. Part of the shallowness of it is that when X gossips about Y in front of you to get a kick out of it -- it's likely that X will gossip behind your back too.

Tribalism

"People could not speak their minds freely because they were afraid of getting fired".

"There were some health issues with Nasser. My feeling was he was looking for a place to live quietly and not work too hard." This topic has been brought up by other witnesses as well but given it's a private topic, we will not elaborate on it.

Nasser's camp included Mina, Gopal, Antonio, etc., Mr. GG said.

Nasser and Mina Allegedly Wanted Yannick and Fazila's Home

Mr. GG became good friends with Yannick and Fazila, who I also know and highly respect as really genuine people. They had become arch enemies of Nasser and Mina. Why? Mr. GG said it could have been that N & M were worried that Fazila may have wanted to become the co-principal, and "they were scared of that." Or could it be that they thought Yannick had mishandled the budget or something like that, in which case, it would have been an upper management issue if it applies to the duty of oversight. "Or, if it was simply that Nasser and Mina had their eyes set on that bloody flat where Fazila and Yannick were living with their family."

Yannick and his wife, both senior staff members, were brutally fired. Mina told Yannick's wife, Fazila, that they needed to move out of their flat. No reason was given. Reportedly Nasser and Mina allegedly had their eyes set on that flat for themselves. But they didn't say anything to Yannick - only to his wife.

Their flat was renovated and refurnished, costing thousands of pounds, and Brockwood paid for the furniture they chose, before Nasser and Mina moved in. They have "a massive old style Victorian bath" which Krishnamurti used. "Some of their flat was used by K also." Anecdotally, there was also even a bigger bath there before another remodeling, after K died.

"I organized the complete renovation of this area of the main house [after Yannick was fired], it is by far the best accommodation at BP... Soon after completion Mina and Nass moved into the area." Ex-staff

Reportedly Yannick was allegedly threatened by Nasser/Mina via Gopal to make him resign. He eventually bowed to the pressure and resigned. He wasn't the first. Except for Antonio and Bill and Carvallo (who passed away) and one lady, all the staff from pre-Nasser/Mina era are reportedly gone. Derek Hook was another alleged enabler of Nasser and Mina (he and Raman are part of the Old Boys clan).

Nasser and Mina were supposed to do a review of the place, including the facilities, which was Yannick's area. But a review of them was never done. The decision to fire Yannick was done without a review of his department (a review that would have involved talking to the department head, so he'd know).

See more on some firing practices of the Nasser/Mina regime in the section titled, BOGUS "GROSS MISCONDUCT" ALLEGED THREAT

Sect-like Management

"I had a feeling the whole organization is turning like a sect". They're using K as a doctrine without deeply understanding or living it -- just quoting it to assert their authority.

TESTIMONY OF Mr. UU

“I would not send my child to Brockwood at the moment”

Mr. UU provided a lot of important information, which is used in multiple places in this document, as it helps to connect important dots. Today, he mentioned to me that people ask him about sending their children to Brockwood, but he does not recommend Brockwood Park School presently. He was a long term staff member and knows the place very well. "I wouldn't send my child to Brockwood at the moment" because of his disappointment with the management he experienced first-hand.

TESTIMONY OF LADY Q

Lady Q said that the Inwoods scandal was very upsetting and quite shocking. She was proposed as a trustee and went to a Trustee meeting. She has known several of them for many years, and she talked to Nasser. But she had a strange feeling and declined to become a Trustee.

Management Filters Prospective Trustees To Pick Weak Trustees It Can Control

There was another case where a prospective trustee was reportedly interviewed by the dictators before being considered by the trustees. The dictators were reportedly involved in filtering prospective trustees, which should not be the case. Theoretically, the Board needs to decide for itself who is qualified or not because the dictators should be accountable to the trustees. But this does not seem to be the case.

Lady Q was not pre-vetted by the Dictators as she was proposed by one of the Trustees, and she has known many of the others for years.

Nasser’s False Narrative About Inwoods

The reason that Nasser allegedly gave about the Inwoods situation was money. “He didn't see why he should absorb so much money.” But that’s apparently and allegedly a manipulated, cunning, or preposterous idea of Nasser’s. See section on Inwoods’ finances. It came up in several interviews that Inwoods was self-sufficient financially and it was in fact profitable. It had such a tight supportive community of parents and supporters such that if it needed money, it would have been able to raise it itself.

Lady Q said that she's sure that Inwoods could have done lots of things in terms of fundraising options instead of relying on KFT for funding the entire project. “If they had the will they could have found other solutions.” She spoke about it with Trustee, Gary Primrose, who said, “We've decided not to talk about it.” Or rather, “We were told by Nasser not to talk about it.”

Money seemed to be a facade. The real reason seems to be control because the dictators are control freaks. There are many testimonies, as well as circumstantial evidence which indicate that they wanted to have control over everything, even the Swiss Gathering! They apparently felt threatened by the flourishing Inwoods, which was managed in line with Krishnamurti’s teachings and very out of line with the dictators’ negation of K’s teachings as evidenced in their conduct.

Nasser & Mina Got Credit For Mr. Alluri’s Efforts

Lady Q referred to the video project as a Nasser and Mina accomplishment while, in fact, it was an ex-trustee of KFT who was instrumental in funding and managing the video effort. Nonetheless, Nasser and Mina ended up taking credit for it somehow.

Nasser’s Frustration For Not Making More Money

Lady Q spoke with Nasser and said she believes that “he's extremely frustrated not to make more money.” Allegedly, Nasser reportedly told her, why should he give money to Inwoods when his salary is so low! Comparing himself with Inwoods! Anyway, Inwoods was financially self-sufficient; it attracted donors (which Nasser viewed as competition, despite fact that Brockwood and Inwoods shares the same bank account). Any plans for building projects were to be discussed, and Inwoods had good options for self-funding, but dialogue was not part of the Trust’s problematic culture under the current regime.

Reminder: KFT is a non-profit charitable organization, tax exempt, and people are there for a cause/ they're willing to accept the fact that their remuneration is not comparable with working for industry, for example. This may be yet another indication that Nasser may be at the wrong place.

Nasser’s Alleged Fear & Anxiety

“This frustration is converted into [longing for] power, control, etc.” She said that she believes based on her interactions with Nasser that he has a lot of anxiety, and he reportedly has said to more than one person that he has deep fears and anxieties. Nasser told her, “I don't think why we should spend this sum of money on Inwoods while I make so little money.” She believes that the negative traits that people have reported are because of Nasser’s alleged frustrations. “So, one day he will have to go.”

“They lost track of balance and…the way they treated Inwoods was losing track of something that's right.”

One former staff member expressed her opinion: “I think Nasser spent most of his hours worrying rather than doing anything. He doesn’t have any experience with challenging parents - something all schools have to deal with.”

TESTIMONY OF MR. AA

In the opinion of Mr. AA, allegedly Nasser possesses inferior people and relationship skills (a milder version of what he said about "the way he relates to outside world").

Allegedly, “it’s the general feeling of a lot of people. When they meet Nasser, they don’t know what to say.”

“When Mina emailed me, she expected me to respond very quickly. When I emailed her, she just ignored my email. Brockwood was not like this before. When I emailed people from management, they would respond. Nasser and Mina just ignore [my] emails.” More indication of ignorance in their management style, as also reported by others.

Mr. AA met “the woodwork guy” at the Southampton Airport. “He was so upset with the management of Brockwood. He told me that he had been threatened when he was fired.” It is a familiar theme various witnesses have stated: allegedly getting threatened in the process of getting fired by Nasser and Mina.

“At first they make the person do something that would reveal if he or she has 100% allegiance” to the dictators or not. And if not, the person is fired.

"They want to control the place. They don’t want anybody to think for themselves and have their own mind."

Mina Spying on HEADTEACHER by Secretly Reading HEADTEACHER’s Emails

Mina allegedly wanted to look into HEADTEACHER’s emails. The person responsible for IT felt uncomfortable with this request, thinking, “this is spying” and it is improper to look at an employee’s emails without their knowledge. It may also be against UK privacy law, which apparently (we have not looked into it in detail) requires advanced notice to an employee. He had no choice but to give Mina access because she was the boss. Mina reportedly wanted to look at HEADTEACHER’s communications with parents. She was trying to dig dirt on HEADTEACHER to justify the brutal and preposterous act of dismissing her, apparently in the absence of any valid, decent, rational excuse – which led to the collapse of a great K school.

We researched this a bit and got the impression that Mina’s action was not ok because there was no suspicion of criminal activity such as fraud; and there was no agreement in the contract as far we are told that would allow Mina to do this. We also obtained the following information:

“If your employer is going to monitor your email and web use, you must be clearly informed of this in advance and of the reasons for such monitoring. This is normally done through a policy or the employment contract. Also this is covered by Data protection laws.

In summary, if you need to monitor employees’ communications, you should consider the following:

· Can you establish a clear business need for the monitoring?

· Is the extent of the monitoring reasonable? E.g, do you actually need to read the emails to determine whether or not they are personal. It may be enough simply to look at the recipient’s name.

· Do you have a written policy stating that monitoring may take place?

In addition, under the General Data Protection Regulation, the employer should conduct a privacy impact assessment before introducing any intrusive policy such as covert monitoring of internet and email use.

One also have rights under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 which bans the intentional “interception” of emails without lawful authority. This prohibits an employer from deliberately reading the content of emails that are obviously private, even if sent using the employer’s email system, unless there is an exceptional reason (e.g. to investigate a suspected crime).”

Lack of Professional Communication

Raman’s new man, Abhijit Padte, told Mr. AA that Mr. AA has to handover his duties to him and have regular meetings to make the handover happen. Mr. AA was shocked that nothing was said to him by management. If true, and there’s no motive for Mr. AA to lie, this is allegedly incompetent on Nasser/Mina’s part not to even have the courtesy, let alone the professional responsibility, to inform Mr. AA that his time is almost over and he needs to do a handover / knowledge transfer.

Control Freaks

“If you want to be on good terms with Nasser and Mina don't contradict them.”

Like several other witnesses, he believes Nasser and Mina are allegedly control freaks, probably rooted in insecurity, greed, and perhaps a subconscious knowledge that they’ve messed up but want the mess to continue as well as the fear of losing their grip on a dream place, the “baby” of Krishnamurti, which they’ve thrown away with the bath water with their greed and mismanagement.

Perhaps Raman had a talk with Nasser saying, well, “sugar” is hitting the fan. The inspection found serious management shortcomings (e.g., incompetence, an deficient complaint process). The number of alienated people is growing, and they are now networking. There's a task force taking testimonies, and at some point, the mess will come to light. Let’s be proactive: you step down, I will take over.

They probably fed Grohe a story to get his blessing. But Raman as the head of KFT will absolutely not change anything because he was allegedly heavily involved with the things Nasser did and enabled him, politically. The result has been the devastation of Inwoods, the alienation of so many people, and several close friends of K becoming very upset. Now the task force may get the charity Commission involved, along with the Department of Education. Nasser should step down and maybe a new boss will quell the opposition that the dictators created with their mismanagement.

Nasser and/or Mina allegedly prevented Mr. AA and a close friend who was a long-term staff member (now deceased), from going to the Center to have tea together. Mind you, the Center’s sitting room is spacious and much of the time is empty. So what’s wrong with two dedicated staff members having tea together there? They may even engage in a philosophical dialogue in such a setting, and informal dialogues are often more fruitful than official ones.

Mr. AA took it as another sign of their desire to control everything and alleged “will to power” as Friedrich Nietzsche put it. Even two people coming together for tea may be viewed as a threat to dictators allegedly utilizing a “divide and conquer” approach. Being control freaks at a K foundation / K school is totally contrary to K’s teachings. He spoke at length about the topic. Nasser finds convenient quotes to help him assert his power. But love, freedom, intelligence go much further than control. The spirit of the place for years has been described as kind and gentle by many witnesses – a spirit they feel has been replaced by a heavy-handed management style.

Of course, control has its practical necessities, but the testimonies we’ve heard about Nasser and Mina’s alleged thirst for power and control go far beyond the practical need of e.g. controls on the IT system for the sake of cyber security for example, or assuring the safety of children. Their need to control is at a different level: it seems psychological and related to obtaining and maintaining power, which otherwise is an issue of insecurity.

Rude Teachers

Mr. AA said, “There were some very rude teachers. In public schools, they have much better teachers much more polite than some of the staff members of Brockwood. And those who were the rude ones they were the ones who had so-called complete blessing of management. So it's all connected.” One example came when a teacher in Nasser’s camp had computer problems that Mr. AA helped resolve. Not only he didn’t thank Mr. AA, but he complained that he was being disturbed! Mr. AA thought such an attitude doesn’t belong in a K school.

Nasser & More

Mr. AA said he “always had a strange feeling when I talked to Nasser.” Earlier, he felt more connection with them, but later he “felt I had nothing to say to them. No connection.”

Mr. AA said Nasser was “always” [often] quoting Krishnamurti, trying to impress others, but once he realized Mr. AA had studied K deeply and could push back on Nasser’s claims about K, he gave up.

“Raman, he is everywhere...I don't trust him…Raman has a strong influence on the place, although he's not [officially] part of the place…I know that Raman is behind all that.”

Mr. AA is not impressed with the new IT guy, Abhijit Padte, who Raman brought in. He thinks it’s a Donald Trump type of mentality about loyalty: “I brought you here so you have loyalty to me.” He views it as particularly sensitive around IT because they’ve spied on people before. “Especially when it comes to IT because it can be used to spy on people.”

One staff member “was very angry” at the way management handled the dismissal of Yannick, saying that he quit. Mr. AA echoed the same thing many other witnesses have stated that the Trust’s Trustees are weak and mostly rubber stamped the decisions made from before by Raman, Nasser et al.

Adrian, a co-principal who was allegedly fired by Nasser and Mina, reportedly was in a talk with Nasser at the library when Nasser reportedly and allegedly told him that you’re either with me or you’re against me. These early recollections provide insight into how Nasser and Mina allegedly paved the way to full power by getting anyone on their side they perceived as a threat, nonconforming to their authority, and disloyal. That included almost all old timers at the school except Antonio and Carvalho, who died not long ago.

Mr. AA talked about one of the old timers who is not happy with how the place is being managed but “he can’t talk”, as expressing discontent equals getting axed, as several witnesses reported. Contrast this with Krishnamurti’s idea that discontent can be healthy and set a creative fire. The Nasser/Mina/Raman regime doesn’t seem interested in those things: the topic seems out of their league in terms of motive, understanding, experience, etc.

“It’s a culture of hush hush…there’s nobody to talk to…” Speak up and you’re gone.

Mr. AA pointed out another recurring theme. While he was in charge of maintaining the website, suddenly someone else was doing it without coordination with the first person!! Undermining people by circumventing them without communication is so unprofessional. “They took it away without telling me.” The proper, professional way is to inform someone that their role is being given to someone else. But allegedly not according to Nasser and Mina’s management style.

Mr. AA talked to Bill Taylor about it. Bill said they’ll need to talk about it, which didn’t happen “and he didn’t do anything”. Mr. AA then asked Mina, who said it was just a temporary thing and Mr. AA will maintain the website. Mr. AA said, “She lied. How can you trust them?” Even if it was temporary, they should have informed Mr. AA. “I took it as a lack of courtesy. I took pride in my job”. These incompetent management failures are demoralizing. And, “it turned out that it wasn’t temporary”, contrary to Mina’s alleged lie.

Hypocrisy

When the coronavirus / Covid-19 pandemic hit, an order was reportedly issued by Nasser that nobody should leave Brockwood. Even one person outside couldn’t get back in easily because of that policy. At the same time, Mr. AA, who lived outside Brockwood, went to town and “saw Raman and Nasser having coffee” at a cafe. “They left quickly after I was there.” Nasser behaved hypocritically. “They say one thing and they do the opposite!” Mr. AA remarked.

Someone mentioned in January 2022 that Nasser is still not vaccinated.

Someone wrote in March 2022: “Hi Réza. Just saw Nasser and Raman sitting on bench by the Cathedral next to my school.”

Genotoxic Routers Everywhere

Raman’s recruit, Abhijit Padte, allegedly wants to put Wi-Fi routers all over the campus. A very preposterous wrong decision as thousands of studies show the genotoxic effect of pulsed microwave radiation: it’s especially harmful for younger people. The right thing to do is to have a local area network cable in every student resident so devices (including phones) can be used with wired internet and zero harmful radiation.

Microwaved “Quiet Room”

Even the Krishnamurti Center has Wi-Fi routers. The Quiet Room has Wi-Fi radiation given how close it is to the kitchen. It’s supposed to be a place of meditation, where you don’t take your problems and just sit in peace and quiet, but now your cells are being zapped by ultra-fast microwave radiation, which damages the DNA, and causes oxidative stress and a slew of other psychosomatic issues. The Center is mainly comprised of guest rooms. There should be wired internet in every room, and guests can do without internet during meals. The resident flats upstairs should also have wired internet connection. It’s faster, more secure, and not unhealthy.

Management was informed that putting wireless routers and repeaters in the student accommodations was harmful and having wired internet makes much more sense; especially in a pandemic when students spend a lot of time in their rooms with their computers, it’s wise to have wired connection. “They knew this is a problem I had informed them. But they have ignored it.”

TESTIMONY OF LADY CC

We've been friends for many years. She was at the reunion last year and talked to a couple of current students. Her impression was that the counseling wasn't adequate. A student was told that Brockwood was not a place to heal. Lady CC disagrees and says that "I don't think it was Krishnamurti's intention to only take care of kids who had perfect childhoods."

Management Style’s Impact on Kids

At the reunion, "I found it strange that the kids were not mixing." This is the fourth witness who's been to the reunion since the Nasser/Mina/Raman regime has been in power, who has had the same observation as the others. In her words, "I found it strange that they [current Brockwood students] were not mixing with the crowds" while in the past, current students always mixed with past students.

Leadership matters. A tone set by leaders reverberates in the whole organization. The founder spoke at length about the depth of the problems of isolation. Every bit of the problem can be seen in the way Nasser/Mina/Raman manage the place and the culture they set.

TESTIMONY OF LADY WW

Lady WW recalls when Nasser and Mina came to Muerren the first time. Mina talked about Nasser's illness and took food for him to his room. Another person who was at Muerren felt he was avoiding people because he didn't want to be "read". At Brockwood, some people have reported that he sometimes avoids groups and is more of a loner.

More than one person who met them during their first showing stated they didn’t like Nasser but Grohe was very impressed by him. It doesn’t take a lot to impress Grohe. They were invited by Grohe. “Invited” in this context in German also means the invitee’s travel expenses may be paid by the inviter.

Lady WW has had contacts with Nasser and Mina and said she always felt a distance and they were not candid with her. She said at Muerren, some old-timers including Gisele Balleys and Rita Zampese were not happy that Nasser and Mina were going to be given so much power by Grohe. Reportedly, they had managed to impress Grohe (not a hard thing to do because he appears as simplistic and unsophisticated). He's a very good man, but people like Nasser, Mina, Raman, Rabindra draw circles around him while he thinks "everything is great."

Friedrich Grohe Recruited Nasser and Mina

"Friedrich Grohe decided to take Nasser and Mina to Brockwood."

At the time, Brockwood needed some help as it was poorly managed under Gopal and Adrian's leadership. So Nasser and Mina went in and made some changes, but they didn't stop there. The field was wide open, as Grohe was smiling in support from his rose colored information bunker, where he gets everything-is-great reports. It appears that Raman was allegedly on the grounds knowingly or ignorantly paving the way for Nasser and Mina to take total control, with blessing from Derek, Antonio, and Bill. The rest is history and the unfortunate mismanagement fiascos documented in this paper.

Lady WW is among the many who think it's important to find out why HEADTEACHER was fired, which led to the collapse of Inwoods. This document pretty much answers the question that the management failed to answer honestly and clearly. KFTrust/Brockwood apparently tried to bury the facts, but truth has a funny way of getting out, and it has tremendous power.

TESTIMONY OF MR. O

Management’s Growing Power Over Trustees

"Management acquired more and more power by filtering what was being said to the Trustees.”

Mr. O was as a senior teacher / staff member at Brockwood Park School. In his senior role, he participated in trustee presentations and noticed that the Inwoods’ time-slot in the trustee meeting agenda was being shrunk.

“There was a centralization of information to Trustees. Presenters’ times were reduced more and more. This can be seen in the Trustee agenda. So management acquired more and more power by filtering what was being said to the Trustees.”

"The amount of power that these two people have is very unhealthy – an unhealthy management environment." The entities who gave them so much power are responsible for that: apparently Raman Patel and Derek Hook.

He recalls that the head of Inwoods “went from being a very senior person within the organization to being completely marginalized” on Nasser and Mina’s watch, and it was done in a cunning manner. It seemed that Nasser and Mina allegedly had already decided on a set of conclusions and they were going around asking people loaded questions in order to get the answers they wanted to support the conclusions they had already made. So the questioning itself was dubious and not a sincere inquiry by any means.

Think about all the years Krishnamurti, the founder of Brockwood Park, spent talking about the importance of inquiry, finding truth, suspending the known, the traps of conclusions, image making process, etc. the approach employed with Inwoods was very contrary to the true spirit of inquiry that K talked about, which was not to start with a conclusion and work it backwards. That’s a scandal and not an inquiry.

Management Tried To Build a Fake Case Against Inwoods

In this case, the scandal seemed to be that they wanted the head of Inwoods out, and not for legitimate reasons; otherwise they wouldn’t need to go around asking people loaded questions to prompt the answers they wanted to hear to build a case. And in the end, the case is a sand castle built on lies.

Both Mr. O and his wife, Lady P, were subject to such cunning questioning by Nasser and or Mina. Mr. O said he would never give them the answer they wanted. He had to be honest and express how he truly felt about the ex-Inwoods’ Director, HEADTEACHER. It was very positive! She was doing a fantastic job, and the result of her fantastic job spoke for itself: a flourishing, amazing school with full engagement of stakeholders, except that the upper tops at KFT, under the direction of Nasser and Mina, were apparently trying to pull the plug on HEADTEACHER, assuming in their naïve minds that the show would go on as usual without her.

They should have known if they had enough management experience, to use common sense or a fraction of the wisdom they portray to have while quoting Krishnamurti, that it does not work that way. Their scandalous ousting of HEADTEACHER led to the implosion of the school because the parents and students loved her, appreciated what she’d done, and they did not like the preposterous or no answers they were getting from Nasser/Mina/Raman regime.

Nobody ever explained rationally to the parents why HEADTEACHER was ousted. The only real reason for wanting to oust HEADTEACHER appeared to be Nasser and Mina’s alleged control-freak attitude which has shown itself in so many instances.

Nasser & Mina’s Alleged Craving for Power From Day 1: Take Swiss Mountain Gathering to UK!!

Soon after Nasser and Mina went to the Swiss mountain gathering (invited and probably paid for by Grohe) for the first time, they reportedly allegedly talked about taking control of it and running it in England. "What do you do with the mountains?" a shocked long-term organizer asked herself! "I thought I was falling off my chair. Gisele didn't trust them at all. But they had Grohe's backing, so Gisele fell for it." The organizer, Gisele Balleys, reportedly faced the shock of her assistants over this, but softened up because Nasser and Mina had the backing of Friedrich Grohe, and Gisele is part of the Grohe circle - and a Trustee of KFT!

Their excuse seems to be to “change management” and “law”. I’ve worked with change management experts in world-class organizations and have been a professional management consultant, and I know a few things about law, having studied it and grown up around lawyers and judges all my life. My dad had a stellar career in law, including being a judge of judges and a Supreme Court Justice. My mom’s father was a great lawyer who focused mostly on pro-bono work. They both dedicated their lives to helping people.

So Nasser and Mina can’t fool some people about change management and law. Brockwood may have needed some changes initially, but never in his wildest dream, would K have imagined his beloved Brockwood be pushed to this level.

Inwoods' Director had everything the Dictators didn’t

The Director of Inwoods, HEADTEACHER, was a threat to Mina and Nasser’s apparent and alleged egotistic, control-freak mentality. HEADTEACHER had everything the dictators didn’t. She was a free-thinker, open, fearless, glowing, beautiful, happy, who was wise, clear, fulfilled, humble, driven by love, successful in building a great school, admired and adored by students and parents, living K’s wise pointers and applying his great educational philosophy in possibly the closest setting ever to what K had in mind as a school full of love, wisdom, and giving.

On the other hand, Nasser and Mina’s behavior, alleged cunning ways, apparently cluttered ideas, and questionable handling of certain situations as reported by a number of people, are well documented in these interviews. HEADTEACHER was apparently the next target of their alleged control-freak bulldozing, on their way to ultimate power.

Mina’s Idea of Inquiry

Mr. O. continued: “Mina was looking for evidence to align with whatever decision that they had made.” They were looking for evidence to enable that removal. So the real reason for that removal was not the evidence that they were looking for. The reason for the removal was something else, and it was not genuine. Otherwise, they wouldn’t try to go around solicit opinions with manipulative, loaded questions in order to fabricate evidence.

PREFACE TO THIS VERSION

New Discoveries of Trustee Conflict of Interest

Troubling New Testimonies, e.g., Report of Child Having Anal Sex In School Library

Trust’s Preposterous Police Reports & Lying to the Police

Departure of Gisele Balleys

Preemptive Superficial Changes at the Trust Including Antonio’s Role

Trust’s Futile Defense: Blame Words of 70+ People on One Person; And Bill Taylor’s Lies

WHO WAS J. KRISHNAMURTI?

DISCLAIMER

INTRODUCTION

PROBLEM STATEMENT, OBJECTIVES

PROJECT TEAM

PUBLIC INTEREST

RESEARCH METHOD

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Statement Of Reza Ganjavi About His Engagement As Lead Investigator Of The Mismanagement At KFT

Statement Of Reza Ganjavi About His Interaction With KFA, Before and After Grohe Gang Takeover – Which KFT Falsified To Disparage Activist Taskforce

Friedrich Grohe and his Gang's Influence Mongering at Krishnamurti Foundations

Report of Two Fake Police Reports KFT Filed to Quash Criticism; The Police Refused To Pursue The Cases

Police Misconduct In Falling For KFT’s Lie Upfront; It Was Proven Later That KFT Had Lied To The Police

Letter Requesting Investigation of KFT

About Nasser Shamim's Cowardly Behavior

Emails to Raman Patel

Investigative Report On Friedrich Grohe and His Gang

Response to Bill Taylor

Letter to Mr. J. Krishnamurti About His Foundations Years After He Died

Quotes About J. Krishnamurti

REGULATORS, ETC.

TESTIMONIES & ANALYSIS

DISCLAIMERS

ANAL SEX IN THE LIBRARY

TESTIMONY OF LADY GGG

Mina’s Arrogance & Lack Of Competence

Lack of Proper Safeguarding / Pastoral Care

Trustee Wendy Smith Lying (December 2022)

Trustee Wendy Smith Allegedly Falsely Accusing Parent (December 2022)

TESTIMONY OF BROCKWOOD PARK SCHOOL'S SECRETARY / INWOODS' PARENT

Favoritism, Tribalism

Nasser Allegedly Laughed Off Staff Member In Pain

Strange, Strained, Tense Place

Firing Without Dialogue

Manipulation, Control

“Brockwood, the Biggest Disappointment in My Life”

Brutal Micromanagement

TESTIMONY OF INWOODS’ STAFF MEMBER AND PARENT

Inwoods and Brockwood Had Healthy Relationship Before Antonio/Nasser/Mina took over Brockwood

From the onset, Helena allegedly wanted HEADTEACHER out

Nasser & Mina Often “No Show”

Antonio: “We don’t need yoga at Brockwood”!

Antonio never went to Inwoods

No Experience With Primary Education

Inwoods Provided Great Education

Nasser Allegedly “Never Made Sense”

Helena’s Alleged Brusque Response To Child

TESTIMONY OF EX-BROCKWOOD STUDENT

Climate of Tension and Fear

Nasser “not acting in harmony with the intention of the place”

TESTIMONY OF MR. QQ

Complaining Allegedly Led To Firing

People Unfairly Treated by Big Egotrips

Mina's "Change Management" Blunders

They Fired Good Part-Time Teacher To Save Money, But Spent £4000+ On Their Flat

Boys And Girls In Bed In The Middle Of Day And Open After-Lunch Kissing

Hypocrisy: Extreme Rule | No Enforcement

Nasser Allegedly Disparaging Student Artwork

Nasser's alleged "Power Trip", Alleged paranoia that flight simulator certificate could be used for flying a real airplane!!

Nasser's Alleged Intimidating Behavior

Nasser's Alleged Intimidating Disrespect For A Female Employee's Space

Nasser & Mina's Alleged Quest For Easy Life

Racist Attitude?

Strange Power Structure / Mina's Misleading Title / Nasser's Role

Nonexistent Complaints Process

Brockwood's Culture Declined

Adrian, Gopal, Bill, Antonio

Inwoods, Helena

TESTIMONY OF LADY QQQ / Letter to ISI

“Many staff and parents were gaslighted”

This Report Called “A Blessed Relief”

TESTIMONY OF LADY D

Impressions of Nasser Shamim