Thomas Müller’s Own Goal

As you know, I received many letters from lawyers and have been sued before. But what I received now, from the lawyers of the endowed professor Thomas Müller from University of Bochum in Germany, makes very little sense. They demand that I retract all the bad things I said about Müller’s collaborator, the toxic scamference fraudster Ashutosh Tiwari.

I don’t even know how they expect this to work legally, defending the damaged honour of a third party. But then again, Müller’s legal firm of Dressler & Partner does not specialise in media law, despite having a “diverse” team of 6 male white lawyers, all with traditional German first and family names. Instead, Müller and his Bochum-based legal counsel demand €2,000 in “personal injury compensation” (plus another €1k in legal fees) for my saying bad things about Müller’s associate Tiwari, which they say endangers Müller’s employment as industry-sponsored chair. The lawyer also claims in passing that Müller reported me to the police. Which is funny, because years ago Tiwari himself reported me to “Cyber Police” and Interpol.

I understand the gravity of the situation, but I did warn Müller not to collaborate with Tiwari. I also sent him my articles about that crook, but never received a reply.

Then, I asked the University of Bochum to investigate this peculiar collaboration, which they duly did, the investigation is ongoing. I also published a Friday Shorts article using the quotes from the university’s Ombudsman about Müller’s partnership with Tiwari, even EU money seems to be involved. Is this wrong then to assume that Müller may have sent his cease-and-desist letter in order to undermine that investigation, by making me withdraw my notification and evidence? Is this even permissible conduct for a university professor, in such a situation?

And if Müller doesn’t want the world to know about his collaboration with Tiwari, why is it still online? Why is Müller publicly listed as Fellow of Tiwari’s fraudulent and fictional IAAM in 2024? Why is Müller travelling to Tiwari’s events in India and is posing for photos right next to Tiwari under an IAAM logo?

Now, you probably want to finally know what this all is about exactly.

Here is the Friday Shorts I published on 9 February 2024:

---

An esteemed global figure in the scientific community

The Sweden-based predatory conference fraudster Ashutosh Tiwari has a set up a new scam. This time, it is not about heart surgery.

It is called “The International Institute of Water” (IIW):

“The IIW is at the forefront of advancing global water expertise in alignment with United Nations’ initiatives.”

Tiwari’s IIW claims to have its own research laboratories, lecture and conference halls, a huge library, and even water treating facilities. All located at the address “Bijolai Palace, Near Kaylana Lake, Air Force Radar Road, Bijolai, Jodhpur 342 003, Rajasthan, India“.

Which is a hotel. A very fancy and old one, but still a hotel. Typical Tiwari, eh?

This all is somewhat similar to Tiwari’s past invention VBRI (Vinoba Bhave Research Institute), which he registered at his father’s diploma mill in Allahabad, and faked the rest in Photoshop. Read here:

Now, you might wonder, what kind of […] will join Tiwari in this […]?

Next to several Indians, an MIT professor and a professor from Germany. Here is the Executive Board (and an archived copy here), we have:

• Dr. Ashutosh Tiwari – President, International Institute of Water, Jodhpur, “an esteemed global figure in the scientific community, […] Celebrated for his groundbreaking work in water science, technology, and sustainable development, Dr. Tiwari has been instrumental in shaping discussions around worldwide water-related challenges…”
• Prof. Thomas Ernst Müller – Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, “endowed chair Carbon Sources and Conversion (CSC) at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), Germany. His expertise lies…“
• Dr. Rajendra Kumar Tiwari – Former Chief Secretary, UP Govt., India “a former member of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) of the Uttar Pradesh cadre from the 1985 batch.”
• Prof. Manoj Gupta – National University of Singapore, Singapore, “published over 515 articles in international journals and presented at over 200 conferences.”
• Prof. Kamal Youcef-Toumi – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, “Director of MIT’s Mechatronics Research Laboratory and of the Ibn Khaldun Fellowship, and Co-Director of the Center for Complex Engineering Systems.”
• Prof. Basant Maheshwari – Western Sydney University, Australia, “passionate about understanding the social, economic, cultural, policy and institutional aspects of groundwater“
• Prof. Debashis Chakraborty – Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India, “awarded Dr.rer.nat. from the University of Göttingen in 2000 under the mentorship of Professor Dr. Dr. h.c.mult. Herbert W. Roesky.”

I decided to contact only Müller in Bochum and Youcef-Toumi at MIT. I can’t waste time with universities in India, Singapore and Australia, call me what you want for this.

Youcef-Toumi replied with this:

“Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
I was unaware of this.
I did not receive any payments from him or anyone for these organizations.
I plan to discuss this matter with Profs Müller.
Thanks again for the information.“

But I think Youcef-Toumi is being dishonest about not knowing Tiwari. In between, I contacted Müller’s University of Bochum (because Müller did not reply), and the Ombudsman spoke to Müller, and then informed me (translated):

“Mr Müller in no way denies knowing Mr Tiwari. According to initial research, contacts between Mr. Tiwari and Müller have existed for around 3 years. There are no joint publications, but there are planned collaborations in joint project applications to recognized funding institutions where the funding is subject to strict control (EU funds).”

Basically, Tiwari uses Müller to get his […] hands on EU money.

In March 2021, Müller even gave a lecture “IAAM, Session: Smart Biomaterials, Advanced Materials Lecture Series,” sponsored by Tiwari’s fictional International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM, run from Tiwari’s bathroom to organise predatory conferences). See page 17 of the conference programme by Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (IGSTC). The Bochum Ombudsman explained that the lecture was given online due to the pandemic:

“It is probably the only lecture that Prof. Müller has given in IAAM conferences.“

The Ombudsman announced to investigate. Right then, Müller’s photo at IIW, the same one used on his university website, was replaced with a private picture. But Müller himself is determined to stay on. He is not the only German professor in love with that criminal clown.

---

As Müller’s lawyer keeps insisting, this unsavoury association with a scamference fraudster can endanger Müller’s industry-sponsored employment as endowed chair in Bochum:

“It is an endowed professorship which is financed by third-party funds. The business relationships to these third-party funders are of elementary significance and are strongly and acutely endangered by your statements.”

Gosh I am so sorry. Maybe Müller should stop hanging out with Tiwari, instead of pestering me? Or maybe, what if Müller’s chair is not that dependent on ethics and decency in the first place?

The endowed chair was established in 2017 and is called “Carbon Sources and Conversion“. It is sponsored by the German energy giant RWE. A company whose main business is coal, specifically brown coal – also known as lignite, the fossil fuel with the by far worst CO₂ balance. As a press announcement for that newly established endowed chair from March 2017 said (translated):

“The interim step is to develop alternative domestic carbon sources that are not based on oil. Brown coal, which will no longer be burned on a large scale to generate electricity in the future, is also an option. The focus of the endowed professorship is to develop such so-called conversion paths for carbon.”

It was from its inception a very political university chair, advanced not just by RWE but also by the coal-rich state North Rhine-Westphalia and its Social Democratic Party (SPD) , which has a very tight connection to the coal industry. In fact, SPD celebrated in March 2013 the creation of the endowed chair with: “One more chance to make more out of brown coal than hot water.” The research on “the future of carbon” was announced to be done at the lignite power plant in Niederaußem, a dinosaur among fossil fuel plants which spews excessive amounts of pollutants and greenhouse gases. In parallel to the endowed chair in Bochum, a Fischer-Tropsch testing site was to be simultaneously established at the power plant, which purpose would be to convert lignite into methanol and other carbon products (due to huge CO₂ emissions, critics consider this method to be a massive greenwashing fail). In November 2020, Müller for example hosted a colleague advocating for Fischer-Tropsch conversion of lignite.

As SPD MP Guido van den Berg proudly said in his speech in March 2017, held at the power plant:

„Niederaußem is becoming a University seat”

Celebrating the establishment of Müller’s RWE-sponsored professorship, van den Berg MP published in December 2017 a brochure advocating for lignite as a mean for “Enabling a real carbon cycle economy with biomass and plastics“, “as an alternative feedstock for the chemicals industry“, and, try not to laugh: for “Combatting desertification” as well as “to create new virgin forest“.

If SPD can shamelessly lobby for coal, it is only fair that also the power plant’s owner RWE openly says that Müller’s job is to advertise for coal/lignite:

In January 2019, RWE proudly announced that starting March 2019, Müller will take the Chair for Carbon Sources and Conversion, with an external seat at the Niederaußem power plant:

I am a member of the Green party, so forgive me for feeling that Müller’s job looks very much like shilling for fossil fuel industry. Not only to me it looks like this Bochum professorship was designed for selling climate-killer lignite as a green climate-friendly resource.

Now that you know what this is about, you might be interested to know what words of mine exactly do Müller and his lawyer protest against and demand a €2k “personal injury compensation” for.

There is not really anything they can grab, so they invent things. It is not even clear if they protest against being associated with Tiwari, or only against Tiwari being called a crook. For example:

“You claim […] that our client has work-related contacts to Dr Ashutosh Tiwari, […] This is completely baseless….”

Huh? I quoted the Bochum Ombudsman who quoted Müller himself. And funnily, Müller forgot to tell the Ombudsman about his recent meeting with Tiwari at an IAAM event in India. Let me show you that Instagram post again, from December 2023, on the right.

The lawyer writes repeatedly claims of this kind, presumably because repetition of falsehoods makes them true:

“….you present our client as a criminal also according to the relevant guidelines of the criminal code”.

Huh? Where do I do that? In the cease and desist declaration which they want me to sign, they specify that their hurt feeling is entirely based on my calling Tiwari a “criminal clown” and referring to his dirty practices. They also wish to ban me from ever saying “He is not the only German professor in love with that criminal clown“. But Müller is NOT the only one indeed, I do know others, see the octogenarian Herbert Gleiter! Or do they object to the implications of “in love“? Did Mrs Müller get upset or what? Indeed, the lawyer’s letter mentions something about their client being “defamed in his private circle in front of family, friends and acquaintances“…

Leave Tiwari if this is embarrassing for you, Tom!

I am not sure the lawyer speaks good English, how else to explain that the sentence “Basically, Tiwari uses Müller to get his […] hands on EU money” is translated into an accusation that Müller himself would actively support “Dr Tiwari” in this? Maybe a Freudian slip?

Also, they never forget the “Dr” before Tiwari’s name, but they did forget to add it to mine once, very prominently. Which is funny, do they think my degree is less valuable than Tiwari’s, who for years falsely presented himself as a Professor, and still does so? Tiwari may own a PhD diploma from Allahabad, but it is very likely a result of a bribe by his father. Read here:

Another case of (wilful?) mistranslation by Müller’s lawyer: a quote from my text, which was in fact Müller’s own text on Tiwari’s website (“his expertise lies”), which the lawyer twisted into a fantasy allegation of research misconduct.

Of course Müller’s expertise lies in lignite-based green circular economy or whatever buzzwords RWE put him into his endowed chair for. Maybe Müller feels insecure in his chair, but why complaining to me?

I don’t think RWE will mind Tiwari being brought to this party. Especially since that fraudster discovered green materials and circular economy for his predatory conference scams years ago. Heck, they could hold a whole IAAM scamference at the Niederaußem power plant, with medals and awards for everyone who pays! But yes, I do understand that Müller wouldn’t wants me to call Tiwari a fraudulent parasitic lying crook. Because:

“There is a justified concrete suspicion that third-party funders would from their side terminate the financial support of our client because of the above mentioned representation of our client. This would lead to significant financial losses.”

Separations are always costly, but still no reason to demand €2k from me for “personal injury“. But if I can help you in any way to break up with Tiwari, just ask, Tom.

Past experience showed that at least in Europe, professors and universities grudgingly removed their public announcement of winning an IAAM medal. Not because of my disapproval, because everyone else was pointing fingers and laughing at them. Recent examples I documented:

• The University of Birmingham in UK deleted their X post about IAAM medal recipient Konstantinos Skalomenos, while the University of Zurich in Switzerland removed their press release and the mention of IAAM award from the CV of Sandra Luber (read about both cases here).
• University of Würzburg deleted their press release about an IAAM medal to a PhD student (read here).
• The German-Ukrainian Academic Society deleted their announcement of IAA medal to their founding member, Denys Makarov (read here)
• The German Academy of Science Leopoldina removed their press release about an IAAM award to Herbert Gleiter (read here)

But of course there are still those who are proud of their fake IAAM medal. And there are even journals accepting Tiwari’s papers, even hosting him as guest editor. Here, at Elsevier’s journal Green Analytical Chemistry:

By the way, it is not the first time a Tiwari associate sent lawyers against my reporting – a certain former IAAM team member named Dana Cristina Toncu once tried to get WordPress to delete my website (read here).

Toncu’s claim was that I wrongly and slanderously associated her with her former boss Tiwari. Müller, who openly admitted his association with that scamference crook to his university Ombudsman, now tries the opposite: he wants to defend Tiwari’s honour!

Give Tiwari a pass, Thomas Müller.

You just shot an own goal.

---

Update 13 July 2024

As already reported in April 2024 Shorts, Müller was ordered by his University of Bochum to stop working with Tiwari:

“Dear Mr. Schneider,
Based on your report, the Ombuds Committee of the Ruhr University Bochum has dealt with the scientific integrity of the International Institute of Water (IWW). The Ombuds Committee has come to the conclusion that a participation in the IWW is currently not advisable in order to comply with good scientific practice. The Rectorate agreed with this assessment without reservations at its meeting on March 26, 2024.”

---