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You asked for a long answer, and by Jove you got it!Current areas where Albanian is spoken; tiny communities in Zadar (Croatia) and the Ukraine also exist.First, a (very much needed) TL;DR; Albania is the one country in the world that happens to be located in between Greece and Rome — and has historically appeared vaguely “Italiote-like” to the Greeks and “Greek-like” to the Italians; her territory is unusually rough, save for a bit of fertile plains on the coast. She is an integral part of the Balkans, ie. that weird, large landmass too rugged for a unified culture to exist, yet too interconnected for its inhabitants not to share a whole lot in terms of culture and mentality.The Albanians, originally a mysterious pre-Roman, non-Greek Balkan people, developed as a tribal culture with a good degree of autonomy under the Byzantines (5th - 14th Century AD); in full bloom and occasionally independent in the Late Middle Ages, they were the last corner of the Eastern Roman Empire to fall to the Ottomans, who subjected them to cultural persecution and economic opportunity (1479–1912), with a brief period of political power during that empire’s agony (~1750 to August 1830); an isolationist Stalinist country during 1944–1990 (“North Korea on the Med”). A separate ethnolinguistic Indo-European branch with an archaic language, the harsh, mountainous territory produced a tribal, bellicose, honor-bound culture with a Mediterranean legal code of exceptional strictness; to this day, they conserve cultural remnants of their originary paganism, are generally irreligious, as well as multiconfessional (Sunni Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox, Bektashi), two very distinctive traits in a corner of the world where ethnic and religious identity are usually paired. This latter point has historically caused much incomprehension with Albania’s neighbors.The origins: Illyrians/Thracians/Dacians/Carpi/(Celts)/a mix of the above.The ancient inhabitants of modern Albania, as well as the littoral up to Istria and inland Western Balkans up to varying depths, were the ancient Illyrians.There are no documents left in the Illyrian language other than a handful of names of people, tribes and places, so nothing about them can be said for sure; it is also not known how connected the three major Ancient Balkan linguistic groups, the Illyrians, Thracians and Dacians/Getae were (hypotheses range from “they were three distinct Indoeuropean language groups” to “they were three (or two, Illyrian and Daco/Thracian) subgroups within the same IE language”, and everything in between). Etymological studies, on the basis of what little has survived of those three languages/dialects, have hinted to a link between those extinct languages and modern Albanian and Romanian, but these results a) don't explain the nature of this link, b) are numerically minimal, so can’t be used to prove much, and c) don't shed much light on the relationship between Illyrian, Dacian and Thracian. This last point is very important, because we know for certain what area the I., D. & Th. occupied before and during the Roman Empire (ie. until ~400 AD), we know where the Albanians and the Romanians lived when they entered modern history (despite earlier mentions, ~1300 AD is when we can say both peoples had reached their areas of settlement we know of), but we don’t know where both peoples were between these two eras.All we can say is, both definitely inhabited the Balkans before the Slavic invasion and settlement (starting ~500 AD). The Albanians might descend from any of three above-mentioned peoples (Romanian historians have also proposed the Carpi, a related people who inhabited the Southern Carpathians, but this old theory seems unlikely), and most likely descend from either the Illyrians or some inland, syncretic Illyrian-Thracian-Dacian(?)-Celtic(?) group of tribes; syncretism seems to have been common in the border areas, so this depends on the precise place where the Protoalbanian people formed, and that is quite impossible to ascertain.The geographical distribution (with no word to the internal relations) of the Paleo-Balkan language group at the time of the Roman conquest. Messapians are known to have been related to Illyrians, the Veneti are also believed to; whereas the Macedonians’ language is a complete mystery (Greek dialect? Paleo-Balkan?), although what is known is that Philip, Alexander’s father, adopted what would become Koiné Greek as the State language.Below, what an Illyrian (1), a Thracian (2) and a Dacian/Geta (3) tribesmen would have looked like:IllyrianThracianDacian/GetaRomanization/HellenizationThat part of the history of Illyria in which the region came into contact with the Classical civilizations is the least obscure in Albania’s premodern history: the South of what is modern Albania had seen Greek colonies, the most important of which was known as both Epidamnus and Dyrrachion (modern Durrës, Central Albania), founded in the 7th Century bC by Corcyrans, themselves colonists from Corinth; Apollonia (near modern Fier), Buthrotum and others were also quite important cities at the time. The Greek and the Illyrian element mixed, as was common in Greek colonies (colonists were usually disproportionately men, with only a handful of women) and as testified by the wealth of Illyrian names in (otherwise perfectly Greek) funerary stones. In Hellenistic times all of these colonies were annexed and considered the northernmost part of the semihellenized region of Epirus, home to the famous King Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus’ ancestors had themselves been considered semibarbarous, but we don't know whether this was due to them being of mixed Illyrian/Greek culture or to them simply being Greeks less advanced than their southern compatriots (the way Thessalians and Macedonians were; but a similar question exists regarding the latter).Keep in mind that Epirus and Macedonia were feudal kingdoms, whereas the Greek heartlands abandoned those socio-political systems already back around the 8th Century: so “half-Greek” might well be a political rather than an ethnic judgment.What is known for certain, though, is that Epirote Kings did rule over a few red-blooded Southern Illyrian tribes, on the fringes of their kingdom. The independent Illyrian tribes to the North occasionally formed kingdoms, but after Alexander’s pacification of the borderlands they mostly focused on Adriatic seafaring (and a healthy amount of raiding) rather than earthbound expansion.Rome conquered the uncolonized part of Illyria, as well as Epirus, between 233–30 bC. This would be modern Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Northern Albania, and the most important town in the area was Scodra (modern Shkodra, Northern Albania), capital at one time of a unified Illyrian kingdom that became infamous for its fleet and its raiding and piracy on the Adriatic, affecting in no small measure Italic shore-bound trade: which is why the Romans attacked Scodra and conquered Illyria before conquering the Po Valley, ie. Northern Italy — the previous century (the 4th bC) the Samnite tribes in the Southern Italian mountains had built a similar reputation for raiding until pacified by the Romans, and in the Middle Ages, Romance Morlachs (“Black” or “Northern Vlachs”) and Slavic Uskoks (“Ambushers”) would become similarly infamous with their raids on Venetian trade, and Venice similarly pacified their homelands in Istria and the Kvarner.The Jireček line.Modern Albania is thus cut in twain by the Jireček line, which divides the linguistic areas of Latin and Greek influence in the Balkans. During the Roman Empire the inhabitants of the modern Republic of Albania and of FYR of Macedonia were throroughly assimilated into Roman and Greek society and culture. The vital highway known as Via Egnatia certainly contributed to the assimilation of the areas it crossed.The Illyrian Romans would write a glorious page in history when, late in the military anarchy of the Third Century, Illyrian army veterans formed an Army of National Salvation to stop the external invasion of Vandals, Juthungi and Sarmatians; their election of their own general Aurelian as emperor put an end to the 50-year long internal crisis, as the soldier-emperor came, solved all problems, and then got killed. A number of emperors, from Diocletian to Justinian, were of Romanized Illyrian origin.(This video of the Canadian Military History Society delves deeper into the crisis of the period. The episode is mentioned after 6:30. Here is a five-minute recap of Aurelian’s rule)Rome however fell, and the 4th to 6th Centuries saw all sorts of invaders crisscross the Western Balkans, especially along the highways and the coastlines; only the very last of these invaders, the Slavs (who came after the Germanic invaders, and mostly found and settled depopulated areas in Eastern Europe) would stay and settle the Central Balkans, in the 6th and 7th Centuries.The ProtoalbaniansThroughout all these tremendous ordeals, the Roman and Greek urban and rural population were decimated, and fled the cities for safer areas, in the countryside and on hilltops; but at the same time something else happened, that was to be the beginning of the Protoalbanians.Romanization never was a coercive process: the Romans would let conquered populations keep on using their language and following their customs, but the influx of Roman and Italic merchants, veterans, administators, craftsmen etc. into the towns and farms made it necessary for the natives to learn Latin, and convenient to adopt the Roman lifestyle; but the Romans never imposed all of this to the more remote inhabitants of the harsh Albanian mountains, who kept on speaking their language and living a semibarbarous life of subsistence farming and herding. When civilization collapsed in the plains, these Illyrian (?) tribesmen descended and mixed with their Romanized former compatriots. Thus, in the half of the First Millennium AD, was the Protoalbanian nucleus formed.We know this process of ethnogenesis happened in or near the area of Kosovo or Macedonia. We have such precision in knowing how it happened and where because of a number of elements:Albanian has a a big Latin influx, but barely any independent Greek premediaeval influx at all;words indicating things and animals that are found in the sea, on the coast and, up to a point, on the plains, are mostly derived from Greek and Latin, while those indicating trees and animals found on mountains are original: the number usually given is that of 500 to 800 meters above sea level (although it is also possible that those Latin loanwords are simply due to coexistence);those Latin words that can be reconstructed to have entered Albanian in this early period (including 151 words that are present in Albanian but not in Romanian, of which 85 have survived in no other modern language) have undergone similar phonetic changes to those in Romanian, but in some cases the Albanian word has a pronunciation closer to the Latin one than the Romanian word does; moreover, Romanian seems to have a few very old Albanian loanwords (eg. kuvend > cuvînt; *stëpan > stăpîn); in short, the Protoalbanian nucleus must have been to the northeast and the Protoromanian one much to the south of where the two linguistic groups would later settle, in order for Albanian to have been able to influence Romanian without intermediaries (if you can read Romanian, I suggest you read this extremely interesting article).This is a sketch of the Albanian language, and the very structure of the language indeed hints to its history:the grammar is archaic, very similar to Ancient Greek: such rarities are present in both languages such as active/mediopassive diathesis, the aorist tense, the optative mood, the five declensions present in Greek plus a remnant of ablative in the plural, the nature of verb coordination is punctual rather than hierarchical, ie. the verbal tense stresses how that particular action happens (as in Greek), not how this action is related to another action (as in Latin). It also has a very bizzarre feature (which it shares only with wholly unrelated languages), the admirative mood. It’s used to express wonder and is a very weird thing;Much of the vocabulary is Latin in origin, although not always obviously so (mjek < medicus; pyll < padule(m) [paludem]; gaz < gaudium; shqiptoj < excipio - but then, shok < socius; kuvend < conventum; peshk < piscis; qytet < civitatem); however, the syntax is not Latin; this has led many to say that Albanian has undergone partly the process that Romanian completed, hence the label of a semilatinized language. Only Basque, surviving Celtic languages and (debated) Berber have a similar wealth of Latin influences from antiquity that were incorporated into a non-Romance language. There seem to be two treatments of Latin words: one following Romanian (thus an Eastern Balkan influence), the second following Old Dalmatian (Western Balkan littoral).Interestingly, “In 1995, Ann Taylor, Donald Ringe and Tandy Warnow described as "surprising" their finding, using quantitative linguistic techniques, that Albanian appears to comprise a "subgroup with Germanic".” see note [11] on the linked page. However, these similarities are no longer relevant in the modern languages, because “Albanian has lost so much of its original vocabulary and morphology”.Albanian underwent a very important period of Latin influence (2nd Century bC-5th Century AD), divided in three layers; another of South Slavic influence (7th to 9th Centuries): notable is the fact that many Slavic loanwords have a weaker meaning in Albanian than they have in Slavic languages (gropë(a), meaning hole in Albanian and grave in Slavic languages; trup(i), Al. “body”, Sl. “corpse”; zakon(i), Al. “habit”, Sl. “law”; bojë(a), Al. “dye”, Sl. “color”; nevojë(a), Al. “need”, Sl. “captivity”; rob, Al. “prisoner”, but also “human being”, Sl. “slave”). Beginning in the late 9th Century there is also a period of Albanian influence into Vlach (ie. Romanian), probably connected to the Bulgarian expansion into Albania, that pushed the Protoromanians to the south-west.The subdivision between Tosk and Geg seems to have been present before the Slavic invasion of the Balkans.First MentionsAfter some cursory mention — in Byzantine, Serbian, Bulgarian and Venetian chronicles, starting from around 1000 AD — of a people with a name but with no face (arbonites, arbanasi, albanoi, arbanitai, Ar'banas', Arbanon), the first mention of the Albanian language dates back from a Ragusan forensic document from 1285: in the night, the witness declares, "Audivi unam vocem clamantem in monte in lingua albanesca" [“I heard a voice calling from the mountains in the Albanian language.”]It is one of those rare cases, as Zweig would say, when History is not only a storyteller, but a poet: what better words could accompany the birth of a Nation out of the night of times, and into the known world?So the earliest surviving text in Albanian would seem to be Formula e pagëzimit, or the “baptismal formula”, written within a Latin letter from 1462 by the Archbishop of Durrës, Pal Engjëlli (Paulus Angelus) to a recently arrived priest: Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spirit Senit. (“I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost”).Arbën/ArvërDuring this whole period, the territories inhabited by Albanians remained part of the Bizantine Empire. The Albanian feudal lords were granted by Constantinople unprecedented liberties, because they ruled over one of the most strategical regions of the Empire: not only would their alliance with Serbian lords or the Venetian Republic be a terrible danger, but Western (“Frankish”) powers such as Aragon and France looked at the region as a potential beachhead for a conquest of the whole Byzantine Empire; the Normans and the Spanish Almugavars briefly invaded and raided the country, and no less that eight semiindependent Albanian principalities existed between the 12th and the 14th Centuries. In the late 13th Century Frenchman Charles I of Anjou, King of Sicily, conquered most of modern Albania and founded the Kingdom of Albania (1272–1368), which his descendants lost to the Albanian prince Karl Thopia, who proceeded to found the Principality of Albania (1368–1392).In this period Albania had tight trade and cultural ties with Puglia, Ragusa and Venice; the eponymous protagonist of the influential 1410 Italian chivalrous novel Guerrin Meschino is a fictional son of a King of Durrës/Durazzo; and it was in this age that many Albanian towns acquired an Italian name (Shkodra/Scutari, Durrës/Durazzo, Saranda/Santi Quaranta, Shëngjin/San Giovanni di Medua, Lezhë/Alessio, Krujë/Croia, Zeta/Zedda), testifying the great influx of Italian merchants, by which name they often were known in the English language until well into the 20th Century.It was also in this period that Albanian farmers were invited by Byzantine, Venetian and Genoese lords to repopulate areas of Greece uninhabited because of war, economic decline, plague etc., in regions such as Thessalia, Boiotia, Euboia (Negroponte), Attiké, the Peloponnese (Morea).Skanderbeg and the League of LezheThe Ottoman Turks, incapable of conquering the titanic fortifications defending Constantinople, the impregnable capital of a failing Empire, crossed the Hellespont into the Balkans in the 1370es, and in 1389 they defeated the Serbian, Albanian, Vlach and Bosnian army led by Serbian Tsar Lazar at Kosovo Polje — the last major power standing in the Balkans was crushed. Only pockets of resistance survived from what had been the Byzantine Empire: Costantinople (until 1453), the Despotate of the Morea (until 1460) and even faraway Trebizond (1461).As was his tradition, the Sultan took hostages from, among others, the Albanian prince of Kruja, former vassal of the Tsar, by the name of Gjon Kastrioti (Giovanni Castriota); the Sultan took his eldest son, Stanisha, and later the other three males, Reposhi, Konstandin and Gjergj.Gjergj (George), was converted to Islam and was trained — as was customary for hostages — in the Enderûn School, where the élite Janissaries were trained; he displayed such talent in military matters that he was nicknamed Iskandar Beg, meaning “Prince Alexander” (as in, Alexander the Great). During his time as hostage, he would also meet a younger hostage, Vlad III of Wallachia, later known, as Vlad Țepeș (“impaler”) or Dracula, as one of the heroes of the Antiottoman resistance. He became a good friend of the future Sultan, Murad II, and was eventually dispatched home to Albania. There he sat out a revolt against Ottoman rule in 1432–36, and in that decade he was promoted to vali or governor over a sizable timar, meaning that he also led 5000 cavalrymen in battle.After his brothers Konstandin and Reposhi, and his father Gjon died, Gjergj and his brother Stanisha decided to keep their alliance with the Republic of Ragusa and the Republic of Venice. In the 1438–1443 period he was promoted to Sanxhakbej of Dibra, and fought for the Sultan against the Crusade led by János (John) Hunyadi; finally, the latter’s long campaign’s early successes convinced Skanderbeg that the Turks could be defeated in Albania, and he left the field of the Battle of Nish (1443) along with his troops, riding home to establish an independent Sanxhak. He is known to have said, to the population who had already rebelled in the ‘30es, and whom he was leading in a new, much hoped for rebellion: “I’m not bringing you liberty: I found it among you” - meaning, if my interpretation has some merit, that he was relieved to finally have seen a realistic chance to rise up against a tyranny he’d never liked.He had deserted in November 1443; using a forged letter purporting to be Murad’s (his old friend had now become Sultan), he bluffed the Vali of Kruja into giving the stronghold over to him; he then moved on to conquer a number of minor fortresses (Petrela, Prezë, Guri i Bardhë, Svetigrad, Modrič and others). He contacted his Ragusan and Venetian allies. He knew the blow would eventually come, and it would shake the earth.Such a high-level defection inspired other feudal lords. Gjergj (George) Arianiti, a former hostage himself and later Skanderbeg’s father-in-law, had been part of the Albanian revolt of 1432–36, and had started another revolt in August 1443, short before Skanderbeg’s defection; Andrea Thopia of Scuria had been the leader of that earlier revolt, Northern prince Nikollë Dukagjini had also participated. Skanderbeg invited a dozen lords of Central and Northern Albania (most were Albanian, four were Serb) to a meeting in Venetian-owned Lezhë (Alessio in Venetian documents) where, on March 2, 1444, they formed the League of Lezhë, the first unified Albanian polity. Scanderbeg would be its kryekapedani, or “chief captain”, ie. a primum inter pares.The banner of the League of Lezhë took the eagle from the Kastrioti family coat of arms, while the star derives, to the best of my knowledge, from a Northern family.The League was thus born in early spring, awaiting the Turkish onslaught that would come, as all fighting at the time did, in the summer.On June 29, 1444, an Ottoman expeditionary force of 25–40.000 men camped atop the slightly sloped plain of Torvioll, facing the League’s 7000 infantry and part of its 8000 cavalry. Seeing an easy victory, Ottoman general Ali Pasha attacked without preparations, baring his flanks to the hidden bulk of Skanderbeg’s cavalry. The battle was an utter success for the League, and would be the beginning of a long resistance.One year later, having freed his hands by crushing Hunyadi and his Crusader (Polish, Wallachian) allies in Varna, Sultan Mehmet II wrote a letter to Skanderbeg, who had converted back to Catholicism and answered declaring that he had no intention of backing down. Mehmed sent Firuz Pasha with 9–15.000 men against Skanderbeg, whose 3.500 men (2k cavalry, 1,5k infantry) triumphed a second time at Mokra (1445). After the Crusader catastrophe at Varna, Mokra regalvanized Christian hopes, with Pope Eugene IV and King Alfonso V of Aragon, Naples etc. sending their congratulations; Skanderbeg sent to the latter four Ottoman standards, starting an alliance with the shrewd King that would later be of great importance.In 1446, as Murad was preparing to fight Hunyadi anew, he sent 15.000 cavalry under Mustafa Pasha against Skanderbeg, with precise orders to pillage and terrorize the countryside and avoid pitched confrontations. Mustafa split his troops to this purpose, and when Skanderbeg got word that around half the Ottoman host had encamped in the fortified position of Otonetë to ensure a supply center, he struck there with his 5.000 men, “turning the camp into a slaughterhouse”. Sultan Murad then decided to forbid any raids within Albania, limiting his forces to defending the frontiers.1447 was a very eventful year: it started with Nikollë (Nicholas) Dukagjini killing fellow League member Lekë (Alexander) Zaharia, prince of Dagnum over who should marry Erina Dushmani, daughter of the prince of Zadrima; some say that Dukagjini actually wanted to annex Dagnum (Dajë/Dagno), which guarded an important trade route. The mother of the deceased gave the fortress to Venetian Albania and, upon the Senate’s refusal to give the outpost to the League, Skanderbeg prepared for war with his erstwhile ally. Venice saw the League of Lezhë as no more than a buffer between themselves and the Ottomans, so they also prepared for war, all the while putting a reward on Skanderbeg’s head and sending ambassadors to Murad II, advising him to strike simultaneously.The conflict with Venice had not yet escalated into war when news came that Murad II was personally leading a huge host (around 80.000 men and two cannons) against Svetigrad (in modern Macedonia), which guarded the mountain passes into Albania; as was his usual strategy in sieges, Skanderbeg left a small garrison inside the fortress, while he himself led a disruptive force of 4.000 (enlisting more men from the area) outside the gates. He defeated an Ottoman ambush, ambushed patrols and supplies and even raided the Ottoman camp at night. The Albanians hoped their enemy would lift the siege, but Murad decided to no longer take the bait and the siege continued, hoping to starve the fortress into surrender.Unaware of Venice’s pact with Murad, Skanderbeg asked the Republic for reinforcements, but none came. Ragusa and Naples sent some help. The situation degenerated to the point of war. Skanderbeg received the support of the Serb Despot (and adversary of Venice) Đurađ Branković and League member Stefan Crnojević, while a few other members refused to fight Venice; he left 4.000 to besiege Dagnum and led the other 10.000 to disrupt trade with Durrës/Durazzo and finally marched towards the Venetians’ main city in Albania, Shkodër/Scutari: he defeated the Venetians on the river Drin, and received good terms of peace. Eight days later, the garrison at Svetigrad finally surrendered, and was let through the Ottoman lines and to Skanderbeg’s forces. Pjetër Perlati, commander of the garrison, begged forgiveness from Skanderbeg, but the latter thanked him for holding out so long.Skanderbeg got word that Hunyadi’s forces were marching towards Kosovo, and planned to join them with his now 20.000 men, but was prevented by Branković, who controlled the roads to Kosovo and who was allied with the Sultan. The latter, as promised to the Venetians, sent Mustafa Pasha into Albania with 15.000 men, but he was defeated and captured at Oranik (1448). Hunyadi was also defeated in Kosovo.In 1450 Sultan Murad entered Albania: he took Berat by stratagem and besieged Krujë with 100.000 men, but was repulsed.The League was beset by contrasting interest and, around 1450, only its core members remained. Hungary, Ragusa and Naples helped the resistance financially, and finally, in 1451, Skanderbeg put both the League and himself under Alfonso V of Aragon: the pact was that Alfonso would aid the Albanian resistance and, once the Ottomans were definitely defeated, liberated Albania would enter Alfonso’s Kingdom. Alfonso signed similar treaties of vassallage with Gjergj Arianiti and the Greek Despot of Morea, Demetrios Palaiologos. Murad II died that year.Turkish infighting in Anatolia and the new Sultan Mehmet II’s preparations meant a window of respite (in a very hard time) for Skanderbeg, aside for a relatively moderate (25.000 Ottomans) campaign in 1452. Skanderbeg’s behavior in this particular occasion made him famous thoughout the Mediterranean for his magnanimity and mercy, after he spared, respected and freed the enemy general Hamza Pasha and his men. This victory, reported to Alfonso by his envoy Ramón d’Ortafá, provoked great exhuberance, and reconciliated Kastrioti with the Albanian lords.Another Albanian victory in 1453 was overshadowed by Mehmet’s conquest of Costantinople.Scanderbeg resisted numerous onslaughts for ten more years, preparing for a Crusade from the West that - as it had failed to come to Costantinople’s aid - never materialized. His late intervention to the Albanian Siege of Berat (1455) didn’t prevent it from failing; Moisi Golemi Arianiti briefly defected to the Ottomans, but was defeated in the second battle of Oranik (1456) and rejoined the Albanian ranks (Golemi’s calculation had not been entirely without merit). Skanderbeg had his hands full trying to counter treason and infighting when an Ottoman host of 70.000 reached the coast between Lezhë and Krujë - Scanderbeg’s heartland. He avoided meeting them for months, giving the Ottomans and the whole of Europe the impression that he had been defeated, before triumphing at the Battle of Albulena (Ujëbardha) in 1457. Two of his nephews, Gjergj Strez Balsha and Hamza Kastrioti had betrayed him, and were imprisoned in Naples.Consequence of the battle was a five-year truce with Mehmet, which Skanderbeg used to raise funds for his army, with little success. Pope Callistus III gave him the title of Athleta Christi, which later Popes would renew. Skanderbeg also extended his scope of operations to Southern Albania and Greece, appointing Leonardo III Tocco, lord of Epirus, his lieutenent in the South.Alfonso’s death in 1458 put an end to Aragonese dreams of a Mediterranean empire; Skanderbeg tried to warm up his relationship with Venice, even as he gave his loyalty to Alfonso’s brutal and narrow-minded son Ferdinand I of Naples; his position was becoming increasingly precarious.Nonetheless, he aided Ferdinand when the green King was faced with an Angevin insurrection, campaigning for two years in Southern Italy (1460–1462), thus earning Ferdinand’s trust and friendship.He returned home to face three Ottoman armies, which he defeated in Mokra, Ohrid and Shkup. This led to a ten-year peace treaty which Skanderbeg, although initially unwilling, was convinced by Tanush Thopia to sign. Venice, meanwhile, allied with him, guaranteeing Albanian independence, enlisting him into their own Senate and entering war with the Ottomans (1463–1479).Another Crusade was dreamt of and never realized; meanwhile, Morea (1460) and Trebizond (1463) fell. Skanderbeg won a great battle at Vaikal (1465), but his Albanian enemy, Sanxhakbej Ballaban Badera, captured 21 officers, among whom Moisi Golemi, Vladan Jurica and Skanderbeg’s nephew Muzaka, who were brought to Constantinople, flayed alive for fifteen days, cut to pieces and fed to the dogs.A second battle at Vaikal (where all Ottoman prisoners were slaughtered as an act of revenge) and a second siege of Krujë (1466–67) ensued; during the latter, Ballaban Bej was killed by an arquebus bullet shot by a hunter from the battlements of the fortress, thereby crippling Ottoman operations in Albania. Giving up, as his father had, on taking Krujë, Mehmet had the fortress of Elbasan built as a supply center for attacking Durrës.Skanderbeg tried to take Elbasan, but the task, in the absence of any Albanian artillery, was impossible. Ballaban’s death and the attempted siege of Elbasan forced Mehmet to intervene, sending none other than the Grand Vizier, Mahmud Pasha Anđelović, to a fruitless third siege of Krujë (1467).The immense degree of destruction, the death of so many noblemen, the ruinous state of the Albanian economy convinced Skanderbeg to call the remaining lords to Lezhë in January 1468, to try to form a second League. While there, he fell ill with malaria and died, at 62 years of age.Left without a leader, the Albanian lords went each his own way, some pledging loyalty to the Sultan, some allying with Venice or whoever was left to help them. Defeat was inevitable.Christian Albanian refugees (among whom the Castriota family) would flee to the Kingdom of Naples, with another group fleeing to Venice itself and to the Venetian city of Zara di Dalmazia; another small group found its way, almost two centuries later, to the Ukraine.This flag, from a 1555–1565 fresco by Paolo Veronese in Saint Sebastian’s Church in Venice, has recently been identified as that of the League of Lezhë, a contemporary metaphor for the Biblical story of Mordechai’s struggle for Jewish independence.The Ottoman rule and its successorsA mosque was built over the church were Gjergj Kastrioti’s remains rested, and his bones were made into amulets by marauding Turkish soldiers.The Ottoman final conquest of Albania was barbarous: the last living lords were impaled and flayed. Kruja would not stand its fourth siege: starving and destitute, the fortress would fall in 1478. Shkodra/Scutari, the last city to fall, in 1479, was considered untenable by the Venetians, and the whole of its population (according to eyewitness Marin Barleti) abandoned it together with the Venetian administration.Ottoman rule treated Albania peculiarly until the end of its rule there: while all the neighboring nationalities (Serbs, Greeks, Vlachs, Bulgarians, Italians, Jews etc.) could have schools, libraries and (later) print houses in their own languages, the teaching and written usage of Albanian was punished by death (many secret country schools existed and, when found, the teacher and all children would be killed). To the best of my knowledge, this went on until mid 19th Century (Albanian was officially recognized as a language by the Ottoman government in 1909). At the same time, Albanians weren’t discriminated at all, but were actually encouraged, when becoming soldiers, sailors, merchants etc. Thus, despite having no power in their dispossessed homeland, great numbers of talented Albanians served foreign powers:the Ottomans: many Albanians became Viziers and a few Sultans had some Albanian blood; to this day there are many Libyans, Egyptians, Syrians, and especially Turks of Albanian origin; Mehmet Ali Pasha won Egyptian autonomy from the Sublime Porte; Ali Pasha of Tepelena almost succeeded in doing the same with Southern Albania; Sami Frashëri wrote the first Turkish encyclopedia; Mehmet Akif Ersoy, son of an Albanian, wrote the modern Turkish national Anthem; there is a very interesting thread on Quora on how Turks today see Albanians;Italian powers: aside from the Arbëreshë and their half millennium of loyal, bilingual service (an Arbëreshë would go on to become PM of United Italy), many Catholic Albanians went on to serve Venice, the Papacy, Naples or other Italian powers (of the three most influent families in the Republic of Genoa after the Grimaldi left, one was the Durazzo) as soldiers (initially capitalizing on the skills in dealing with the Turks learnt under Skanderbeg), priests and merchants. Historian Noel Malcolm has written a fascinating book, reconstructing the story of two such families from Ulqin/Dulcigno, that reads like a novel;after Romanian independence in the mid 19th Century, many Albanian intellectuals saw the Carpathian country as a friendly neighbor (almost an oxymoron for Albanians), and settled there, working both to serve the newly independent country and publishing books and newspapers on the question of Albanian independence.In general, if you speak Albanian, Youtube is full of documentaries about Albanians from Italy, Greece, Croatia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Syria, Turkey.Costumes of urban Albanians from the Codice de Trajes of 1547: Albania was still majority-Christian at the time. Those weird, long coats (unattested after the 17th Century) seem to be cut open at the armpit, a feature that still survives in Albanian traditional clothing and that was known in Western Europe during the 16th and 17th Centuries as tailoring à l’Albanaise or all’Albanesca.From the same manuscript: Janissary, Albanian, Turkish Pasha, Sultan, Mamelukes.[1]I think there is an argument to be made, as I said in another answer, that the Albanians at the time were in a position very similar to that of the Armenians.While all these fascinating events unravelled in the Mediterranean, life in the four Albanian Vilayets was comparatively underwhelming. Lekë (Alexander) Dukagjini, a minor participant in Scanderbeg’s resistance, is credited with coding a much more ancient legal code, the Kanun (a Turkish loanword, deriving from an Arabic word derived from Greek κανών, “[measuring] rod”), which prescribes duties and rights on every imaginable area of life (eg. how to treat bees), punishes quite a number of crimes with blood feuds, is generally inflexible and infinitely interesting.The mountains of Northern Albania were impassable enough to keep out Ottoman laws, decrees, religion, taxes and government; elsewhere within Albania Islam spread, not much out of spiritual reasons, but because of a sizeable number of taxes, corvées, years of military service a Christian had to perform and a Muslim didn't; this said, Albanian Islam was always of a gentler nature than Arab or even Turkish Islam was: Albanian Muslims often were, and to this day are, Sufi, Bektashi, or otherwise the raki-drinking, pork-eating, Christian-marrying sort.The Albanian Nation, due to the absence of a national Church (unlike all its neighbors) lost a sizeable minority of her members, who were assimilated into Greek or Slavic populations, but was able to peacefully become a Nation of three religions (Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim) — again, a regional record. The tides of trade and the cultivation of unused fields built large mixed-language areas, between the different ethnic groups, and great communities of Albanian speakers were to be found as far north as Novi Pazar (Tregu i ri) and as far south as the Peloponnese.Illiterate rapsodes (lahutarë, the very last of whom are dying out) kept prechristian Albanian mythology and the more recent epic poems (kënga kreshnikësh) alive; the latter are divided, roughly, in:the Bosnian cycle, originally sung in Ottoman military camps in Hungary, was based on traditional Slavic material adapted to the celebration of religious warfare against the infidels; this tradition, once brought back to Albania, was translated and adapted to the subject of ethnic warfare between Albanians (Shqipëtarët) and Slavs (Shkjet). It thus has, aside from a few heroes and situations, a robustly original nature;the Albanian cycle, built around historical heroes, first and foremost Skenderbeg: it is thanks to this tradition that, although no flags survived from his day, everyone knew what flag to fly and how it should look like, in 1912. Even during and after the National reawakening (rilindja), the red and black flag was quite a common topic in poetry.The flag of the League of Prizren, 1877. Introduced by the Comneni family to Costantinople, the double-headed eagle soon became a symbol of the Capital; the Kastrioti family had probably lived there for a period, and integrated it into their coat of arms. No longer purple or gold, as in the Imperial flag, but red, it flew over the last corner of the Byzantine Empire to stand free, Albania. It was flown again only when the Ottoman Empire in Europe collapsed, yet its design was not at all unfamiliar, as the lahutarë had never ceased describing it in song.Two mysterious alphabets, the Elbasan alphabet and the Todhri alphabet were used during the 18th/19th Centuries. It is not known why they were invented and only a few books in those script survive. They may have been invented as a countermeasure to the prohibition on written Albanian, but that's just a hypothesis.The rest of the story is more recent and better known so, if you don't mind, I’ll leave it for another day.The ethnic situation before the fall of the Ottoman Empire in Europe.Footnotes[1] Veshje dhe kostume të ndryshme 1000-1850

Today Manipur is burning. We have to find appropriate remedy to prevent any possible bloodshed. The volcano may erupt any moment because of wrong policies of the Government of India. We should stop blaming each other Oracles say:-“ the eastern doors will be opened and western doors will be closed”. Now all prophesies are becoming true.This golden land of Manipur had suffered many attacks from outsiders on many occasions. Every time we have succeeded. We have survived for more than 2000 years. We are going to survive another 2000 years. India has survived only 71 years whereas the Manipur has survived for more than 2000 years. The Golden Manipur will not perish from the surface of the earth in vain. Lord Mountbatten once questioned himself “ Is the newly created India going to survive for 100 years ?”. We will build not only a sustainable economy but an advanced economy based on modern technology with the strength of our youth who will be working in high positions in many trades all over the world. One man alone can not fight the future. Let us unite and work together to achieve revival of MSCA-1947. Then there will be no turning back.Let us unite for a change for the better.Let us first revisit the Manipur State Constitution Act-1947:-We can start our discussion from the statement of Mr. G.K. Pillai, retired Union Home Secretary, which was published on 27 September, 2011 in the Telegraph newspaper. According to him, “the repeal of the draconian act AFSPA -1958 was one of the first steps towards resolving the vexed conflict of Manipur’s valley and hills”. He said that “ the ancient kingdom of Manipur had a constitution even before India wrote her own and had a proud history and was overnight turned into a C-category state in 1948. He further added“ we have to build trust by dealing with the core issues. An apology, say by the Prime Minister or the Home Minister, for the past mistakes could be a start”. This is a very bold and forceful statement. But unfortunately this bold, statement has no impact in Manipur.According to Manipur State Gazette Notification of dated 2 January, 1947, His Highness, the Maharajah of Manipur was pleased to enact the Manipur State Constitution Act (MSCA), 1947 on 1 January, 1947, The price of the Gazette was Rs. 1 (one rupee) only per copy to be head of the State Library, Imphal, L.G. Singh, Supdt State Press.But there are many sources who said that “On 12 December 1946, Maharajah Bodhchandra issued a Royal Order constituting a Constitution Making Committee chaired by F.F. Pearson, Political Agent and President of the Manipur State Darbar. Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari, Governor of Assam (4 May 1947 – 28 December 1948), who was the representative of British Crown in India approved the Constitution Making Committee proposed by the Maharajah of Manipur. The approval of the Constitution Making Committee by the then Governor of Assam acting as the representative of the British Crown in India was something which could not be erased by any order having retrospective effect from 3 June 1947. The same source said “The Constitution Making Committee led by its Chairman F.F. Pearson was inaugurated on 10 March 1947. The members were- 1. F.F. Pearson, Chairman 2. S. Somorendro Singh, 3. Md. Kazi Walliullah (representing the Darbar) 4. L.M. Ibungohal Singh (Chief Court). 5.. Bijoy Singh (Jiribam), 6. A. Ibotombi Singh (alias Minaketon)(non-official), 7.H.Dwijamani Dey Sharma,8.Dr. L. Leiren Singh, 9. L. Jogeswar Singh,10. S. Krishnamohon Singh 11.Mera Jatra, (five representatives of the valley), 12.Daiho, 13.Thangkhopao Kipgen, 14.Tiangkham, 15. Teba Kilong, and 16.R. Suisa, (five representatives of the hills)“. Further the same source added “The Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947 was passed on 8 May, 1947 and the Constitution was adopted on 26 July 1947. The passing of the Manipur State Constitution Act (MSCA), 1947 in May before the date of 3rd June 1947 is something very unpleasant to those working for the Merger of Manipur to India. After adoption of the Manipur State Constitution Act (MSCA), 1947, the Maharajah became the Constitutional Ruler when he devolved his powers to the newly established Manipur State Council and Manipur State Legislative Assembly. He was no longer the absolute monarch.The administration of hill areas, which was earlier carried out by the President of the Manipur State Darbar (PMSD) on behalf of the His Highness was brought under the Maharajah’s control by passing the Manipur Hill People’s (Administration) Regulation -1947. The Maharajah abolished the Darbar and brought in a setup called His Highness in Council similar to the Governor General in Council.. The PMSD was designated as Chief Minister and Darbar members as Ministers. Mr. F.F Pearson IPS the then British PMSD became the first Chief Minister of Manipur on 1 July, 1947. When Mr. Pearson left Manipur on 14 August, 1947, Rajkumar Priyabrata Singh became the Chief Minister of Manipur.Under Chapter-II, Section (b) of the Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947 the Maharajah of Manipur is defined as the Constitutional Head of the State. The Administration and the Executive Authority of the State is delegated to the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers shall be responsible for the welfare and good administration of the Hill people of the State. The Council of Ministers shall consists of the Chief Minister and six other Ministers.Under chapter –III (16) of the Constitution, it is mentioned :- “A Minister of the Council shall not be removable from office except in accordance with the provisions of the Chapter IV”.Under chapter –IV (17). It is mentioned :-“There shall be constituted a State Assembly…The Assembly shall be ….. Elected for a period of three years … elected by the people on adult franchise as may be laid down under rules for the elections……the Representatives returnable from General, Hill and Mohammedan constituencies in the ratio of 30:18:3 respectively….. with an additional two seats for the representatives of Educational and Business interests”.The Chapter V (26) of the Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947 says:-,“ The Law Making Authority in the state shall consists of the Maharajah in Council in collaboration with the State Assembly acting under section 18 above “.The Manipur State Hill Peoples (Administration) Regulation -1947 was also passed on the same day”.When Manipur regained sovereign status in the midnight of 14 August, 1947, the Manipur State Constitution Act (MSCA) -1947 was already in operation. As the Governor-General of India or Assam Governor could not revoke any previous order to bring into halt the operation of the laws in force in Manipur. In fact the famous Indian Leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel could not find a way to repeal or dissolve or abrogate the MSCA-1947.The section 9 (5) of Indian Independence Act, 1947 says “ No order shall be made under this section, by the Governor of : any Province, after the appointed day, or, by the Governor-General, after the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and forty-eight, or such earlier date as may be determined, in the case of either Dominion,. by ‘any law of the Legislature of that Dominion.”. Thus the retrospective effect of any order made under section 9 of the Indian Independence Act, 1947 could not remove the Manipur State Constitution Act (MSCA), 1947.The section 8 of the Instrument of Accession says clearly “ Nothing in this instrument affects the continuance of my sovereignty in and over the state or save as provided by or under the Instrument, the exercise of any power, authority and rights now enjoyed by me as Ruler of this State or validity of any law at present in force in this State.” This means that Manipur was still enjoying the sovereignty and the Manipur State Constitution Act-1947 enacted on 1 January, 1947 was still in force.Together with section 8 of the Instrument of Accession signed by Maharajah Bodhchandra on 11 August, 1947, the Manipur State Constitution Act (MSCA), 1947 was in force in Manipur with the terms of the Instrument protecting the Manipur State Constitution Act from erosion.Manipur State Constitution Act (MSCA)-1947 was never repealed or dissolved by the Indian Parliament or by the Manipur State Assembly. It is still a living document.Manipur State Constitution Act -1947 is enjoying full protectionThe Chapter XI - General Clauses, Section 57 of the Manipur State Constitution Act-1947 says that“Where in any case circumstances arise which prevent the proper operation in law or in spirit of this Constitution Act, the Council (Manipur State Council /MSC under the Maharajah ) of Manipur may at their discretion refer the matter for decision to such authority outside the State as may be decided hereafter and the decision of that authority shall be binding.” Probably the British stationed in Manipur could sense that the Government of India may try to abrogate or dissolve the MSCA-1947 and the innocent simpleton Manipuris may not be able to protect this MSCA-1947. That is why they have inserted this Section -57.Here one may ask “ who is the authority outside the State” to whom the MSC can refer for revival of operation of the Manipur Constitution Act-1947 ?”. Naturally the Hon’ble Supreme Court or the Government of India may be the authority outside the State, who can authorise Manipur to operate the Manipur State Constitution Act-1947. (MSCA) But the risk of failure is very high because the operation of Manipur Constitution Act-1947 means independence of Manipur. I was asking this question to some of my lawyer friends. One senior lawyer commented that the Manipur Constitution Act-1947 is a protected constitution. It was drafted by F.F. Pearson, Political Agent and Chairman of the Constitution Making Committee and approved by Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari., Governor of Assam and representative of the British Crown. Therefore, Her Majesty, the Queen has got an obligation to revive the operation of the Manipur State Constitution Act-1947. Therefore, the Manipur State Council may refer the case to Her Majesty, the Queen. Therefore, we should read the Manipur State Constitution Act-1947 along with Article 374 of the Indian Constitution.Consequently, the Manipur State Constitution Act (MSCA)-1947 can not be dissolved or abrogated by the Indian Parliament or the Government of India. The Manipur State Constitution Act-1947 is a living document. If the Manipur State Government, which is a de-facto Government, the Civil Societies and the people of Manipur stand united, then we can bring effective operation of Manipur State Constitution Act-1947. To me, we need not take a permission or approval from the Government of India. My lawyer friend jokingly said “ my car has been stolen by a thief. He is driving the car for all these years. He is the de facto owner of the car. I have all the legal documents of the car. I am the de jure owner of the car. The Indian Government and the State Government of Manipur are the de-facto owner of Manipur whereas the Maharaja of Manipur is the de jure owner of Manipur. “Manipur had a State Legislative Assembly by 18 October, 1948.The Manipur State Constitution Act-1947 was put into operation by holding General Election, establishing the Manipur State Legislative Assembly and ensuring it’s proper functioning.Soon after regaining independence of Manipur from British rule on the midnight of 14 August, 1947, Maharajah Bodhchandra took steps to introduce democracy in Manipur. As provided in the Manipur State Constitution Act (MSCA), 1947, elections of 53 representatives of the people to the Manipur State Legislative Assembly were held on 11 and 18 June, 1948 in the valley areas and on 26 and 27th July, elections were held in the hill areas. The first ever elected Manipur State Legislative Assembly was inaugurated by the Maharajah on 18 October, 1948. The Maharaja addressed the first session of the first Manipur State Assembly on 18 October, 1948. Thus the Manipur State Constitution Act (MSCA), 1947, was put into operation by holding general election, establishing Manipur State Legislative Assembly and ensuring proper functioning of the Assembly. The first Manipur State Legislative Assembly held four sessions on various issues of Manipur.What the Article 374 of the Indian Constitution says:-.The Article 374 of the Constitution of India provides that “Nothing in this Constitution shall operate to invalidate the exercise of jurisdiction by His Majesty in Council to dispose of appeals and petitions from, or in respect of, any judgment, decree or order of any Court within the territory of India in so far as the exercise of such jurisdiction is authorised by law, and any order of His Majesty in Council made on any such appeal or petition after the commencement of this institution shall for all purposes have effect as if it were an order or decree made by the Supreme Court in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred on such Court by this Constitution”.The meaning is that if His Majesty in Council dispose the appeals or petitions by a judgement or decree, that will be treated as if the order or decree is made by the Supreme Court of India.These two provisions (1) Section 57 of the Manipur State Constitution Act-1947 and (2) Article 374 of the Constitution of India give us hope to the final legal settlement of the long standing political and legal conflict towards bringing back the sovereignty and independence Manipur,We may be required to provide adequate proof and evidences of blunders/ illegal activities carried by the Government of India.The following incidents will provide adequate evidences.:-1.Manipur did not participate at the Constitutional Assembly of India during 9 December, 1946 to 26 November 1949.It is a fact that Mr. Girja Shankar Guha, Revenue Minister of Tripura represented Manipur in the Constituent Assembly Meeting during 9 December, 1946 and 26 November 1949 ignoring the existence of the Manipur State Legislative Assembly and the request of the Maharajah. This is a serious blunder which the Government of India has committed to Manipur. Can you purchase my homestead land by negotiating and finalising the deal with my neighbour. This is utter nonsense committed by the then India’s Prime Minister and Home Minister.On 26 July 1945, Mr. Clement Attlee became the Prime Minister of Britain. On 19 February, 1946, Mr. Clement Attlee declared that the British had taken a decision with His Majesty’s approval to send to India a special mission of three Cabinet Ministers comprising of Pathick Lawrence, the Secretary of State for India, Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade,and A.V, Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty to find out means for the transfer of power to the Indian hands. The Cabinet Mission arrived in New Delhi on 24 March, 1946The Constituent Assembly of India was created by the Cabinet Mission Plan to draft the Constitution of India. The members of the Constituent Assembly were elected by the Provincial Assemblies. The total membership of the Constituent Assembly was 389 of which 292 were representatives of the then 12 provinces, 93 representatives of princely states and four were from the Chief Commissioners’ provinces of Delhi, Ajmer-Merwara, Coorg and British Baluchistan.On 7 June 1946, the Rulers of Princely States held a meeting in the Taj Mahal Hotel, Bombay. Nawab of Bhopal presided over this meeting. After three days’ deliberations, the Princes accepted the Cabinet Mission Plan regarding future constitutional reforms and made up their minds to negotiate with Mr. Wavell the then Viceroy.45 (The Times of India, Bombay, 11 and 12 June 1946; Jag Parvesh Chander, op.cit., p. 161.)In another meeting of the Standing Committee held on 2 December 1946, it was resolved to accept that the quota of States’ in the Constituent Assembly would be ninety three seats-one after ten lakh population. It was also decided that the Negotiating Committee would be free to discuss outstanding issues including the terms of States’ participation in the Constituent Assembly as well as their ultimate position in the Union. ( B/85, VII (A)107, 1946, pp. 15-18.)The Constituent Assembly was convened on 9 December, 1946, for the first time in New Delhi,Earlier Mr. H.F. Knight, Governor of Assam visited Manipur in the month of December, 1946. The problems relating to the future of Manipur and the Constitution of India were discussed between the Governor of Assam and the Maharajah of Manipur.In January,1947, Mr. C.G.Herbert, Secretary of the Chamber of Princes, had informed the Maharajah of Manipur that as a result of the Bill taken for the group in which the Manipur State was included, one Mr. Girja Shankar Guha., Revenue Minister of Tripura, had been declared elected to the Committee of Ministers.Tripura’s king Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya had appointed Girija Shankar Guha, a Bengali Minister to represent the state in the Constituent Assembly on 18 April, 1947. He died on May 17, 1947.Maharajah Bodhchandra’s efforts to have a separate representative for Manipur in the Constituent Assembly:-In the last week of January, 1947, Maharajah Bodhchandra sent a letter to the Director of the Constitutional Affairs Secretariat. Chamber of Princes at New Delhi. He Stated that in view of the grave importance and the outstanding features of the Manipur State, he determined to appoint additional Advisers (at least 2) who were well conversant with the political and historical development of Manipur, the matters concerning the Hill tribes and the valley people, and the existing day- today political problems. The grounds on which Maharajah Bodhchandra expressed his desire to have a separate representative of the Manipur State in the Constituent Assembly were as follows.http://1.It was not quite safe to have a representative who would mainly depend upon information’s supplied by the Advisers without having full, personal and local knowledge of the matters he was dealing with.2.the representative for the Manipur State should for all practical purposes be a person, whether official, who was well conversant with, and experience in the Eastern Frontier problems which were of major importance to the coming Commonwealth of United India. And even this representative would have to be assisted by a special Advisory Committee consisting of the representatives of diverse Hill tribes and the valley people.3.With regard to the method of selection of representative, as there was to elected legislature in Manipur, Maharaja Bodhachandra expressed his desire to reserve the power of special reference to the Darbar and public bodies competent to advise him where necessary and this would be subject to change of personal and demanded by circumstances from time to time.The Secretary to the Governor of Assam had strongly advised Maharaja Bodhchandra to ask Mr. Girja Shankar Guha to represent Manipur State and depute Maharaja Kumar Priyobarta as Advisor to Mr. Girja Shankar Guha. The matter was of importance and great urgency because the Constituent Assembly of India had already begun. As the right of appointing a Member to the Constituent Assembly was based on a population of 10 lakhs, the only way for the Manipur State to participate in the Assembly was by combination with Tripura, Sikkim and the Khasi Hills State which Mr. Girja Shankar Guha was representing.The Secretary to the Governor of Assam wrote a threatening letter to the Maharajah of Manipur.“Unless this opportunity is taken, it will presumably not be possible for Your Highness’s State to get any representative at all at the Constituent Assembly, a position which, in view of the probably great changes likely to occur in this country, might have regrettable consequences for the future of the Manipur State”.Maharajah Bodhchandra wrote a letter to Jawaharlal Nehru in May, 1947:-On 14th May 1947. the Maharajah Bodhchandra of Manipur wrote a letter to Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India regarding grant of a separate representative of Manipur to the Constituent Assembly of India. The letter said that instead of having a representative of Manipur, Tripura and the Khasi states as decided by the Chamber of Princes, there should be a separate representative for Manipur not on the basis of population but on the basis of “peculiar geographical and topographical” considerations”.Jawaharlal. Nehru replied to this letter on 22 May 1947 as “Dear Maharajah Saheb- I have just received your letter of 14th May.I think your suggestion that Manipur should have a separate representative in the Constituent Assembly has some force. But unfortunately we have to function within the limits of certain rules laid down for us. These rules are based chiefly on population… the Negotiating Committee had done so. (Constituent Assembly of India, Constitution Section, File No. 84(3)/Ser/47, Ministry of Law, Government of India; Jawaharlal Nehru, Selected Works: Second Series, Volume Two. A Project of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, New Delhi, 2006, p.256. )The Congress had no idea of changing the States’ boundaries. It was held that such change must have the consent of the States. It would not be forced on them. Nehru too added that the scheme under the plan was a voluntary one; there would be no compulsion at any stage. (B/85, VII (D), 200, pp. 35-36.)On 15 June 1947, when All India Congress Committee (AICC) passed a resolution “Constitutionally and legally the Indian Princely States will be independent sovereign States on the termination of Paramountcy”. (Transfer of Power, Vol. XI, No. 225. )The Governor of Assam had a discussion with the Manipur State Darbar on 01 July 1947 and an agreement on certain points was arrived at between the Governor and the Manipur State Darbar. The first point was related to the joining of the Constituent Assembly by Manipur and acceptance of Mr. Girja Shankar Guha as representative of Manipur in the Constituent Assembly. Another important point was the necessity of the assistance by the Union government both for the external and internal security of the State and retention of the Assam rifles. On 02 July 1947 another agreement between the Governor and the Maharajah was signed. The agreement contained points relating the administrative arrangement after the lapse of British paramountcy on 15 August 1947. But the decision of the Manipur State Darbar. have no validity after abolition of the Darbar and constitution of the Manipur State Council on 26 July, 1947.Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy addressed the special session of the Chamber of Princes on 25 July 1947 ( Gwyer & Appadorai, op.cit., p. 772; Mansergh & Moon, op.cit., Vol. XII, p. 234.). The Viceroy advised the Rulers “to accede to the appropriate Dominion, with regard to three subjects of Defence, External Affairs and Communications as they have nothing to lose as the States had never dealt with them. Their accession would involve no financial liability and in other matters there would be no encroachment on their sovereignty”. Finally, he suggested that they should join either union before 15 August 1947 ( Johnson, op.cit., pp. 140-141. Johnson says, “The Viceroy used every weapon in his armoury of persuasion”; also see Mosley, op.cit., p. 172.)A meeting of The Negotiating Committee of the Princely States was held in Bikaner on 31 July 1947 and finally prepared the draft of the ‘Instrument of Accession’ and the ‘Standstill Agreement’.( The Tribune, Lahore, 1 August 1947). About 60 Princes attended the meeting. But there is no such provision in the Indian Independence Act 1947 and India (Provisional Constitution) Order 1947 to merge and annex the acceding States.Ultimately, Maharajah Bodhachandra had agreed to depute his brother Maharaj Kumar Priyobarta as Adviser to Mr. Guha so long as he was the representative of the Manipur State in the Constituent Assembly. But Maharajah Bodhchandra has strongly impressed on his brother to observe two important points in the discharge of his works as adviser to Mr. Guha. Firstly, he was to represent only such cases as were agreed upon between himself and the Maharajah. Secondly, each of the States of Tripura, Sikkim, Manipur and the Khasi Hills would have a change of representing in the Constituent Assembly by turn for specified periods.The constitution of free India was framed by and adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950, on which the first Republic Day of India was celebrated.There is no such provision in the Indian Independence Act 1947 and India (Provisional Constitution) Order 1947 to merge and annex the acceding States who are acceding to the Dominion of India (now Union of India) by the Standstill Agreement. The acceding States are sovereign States. The acceding State is a part or unit of the Union not a part or territory of India.Considering all these facts, it is quite clear that no representative from Manipur participated at the Constituent Assembly of India during 9 December, 1946, to 26 November 1949. Till date, the people of Manipur has not formally accepted the Constitution of India by a referandum. Representing Manipur by GS Guha of Tripura to the Constituent Assembly of India with a view to integrate into India is like finalising a land deal with a neghbour ignoring the actual owner of the land. This is illegal and a serious blunder committed by the first Prime Minister and Home Minister of India.2. The signing of the Instrument of Accession on 11 August, 1947 was illegalMaharajah Bodhchandra of Manipur signed the Instrument of Accession on 11 August, 1947 and was accepted by Lord Moutbatten of Burma on 16 August,1947 The execution of the Instrument of Accession was published in the Manipur State Gazette on 27 August 1947. vide Home Department, Government of India file no A-1/1/1947. Signing of Instrument of Accession is like signing of a Treaty between two sovereign countries and the procedure should follow the International laws.It is a fact that signing of the Instrument of Accession was executed before the Dominion of India came into existence. On 11th August, 1947 India had not yet become independent and the Dominion of India did not come into existence. Thus the two documents of the Standstill Agreement and the Instrument of Accession signed by the Maharajah should not be taken as valid since these were signed before creation of dominion of India.The Instrument of Accession signed by Maharaja Bodhchandra of Manipur on 11 August was never approved by the Manipur State Council in 1947 or ratified by the Manipur State Legislative Assembly in 1948 and therefore not valid since he had already become the constitutional ruler since 26 July 1947. In case of Jammu and Kashmir, the Instrument of Accession was ratified on 15 February, 1954.According to the Government of India Act-1935 (6-9), immediately the Instrument of Accession has been accepted by Governor General, copies of the Instrument and His Majesty’s acceptance thereof shall be laid before the Parliament and all courts shall take judicial notice of every such instrument and acceptance. But there are no records of the accepted copies of the Instrument of Accession of Manipur having laid down before the Parliament and all courts of India.The signing of the Instrument of Accession by Maharaja Bodhchandra and acceptance by the Governor General were illegal and invalid in the eyes of international law.While asking the States to accede on three subjects, the Government of India assured the rulers that “in other matters the Government of India would scrupulously respect their autonomous existence.” Lord Mountbatten underlined these assurances in his speech to the Chamber of Princes on 25 July 1947 that (except for defence, external affairs and communications) “ in no other matters has the Central Government any authority to encroach on the internal autonomy or the sovereignty of the States.”3.The signing of the Standstill Agreement on 11 August, 1947 was illegalMaharajah Bodhchandra of Manipur signed the Standstill Agreement on 11 August, 1947. These were accepted by Lord Mountbatten of Burma on 16 August,1947. But his signing of the Standstill Agreement without the approval of the Manipur State Council in 1947 and without ratification by the Manipur State Legislative Assembly under pressure from the Government of India was an illegal act since he had already become the constitutional ruler since 26 July 1947.There is no such provision in the Indian Independence Act 1947 and India (Provisional Constitution) Order 1947 to merge and annex the acceding States who are acceding to the Dominion of India (now Union of India) by the Standstill Agreement. The acceding States are sovereign States. The acceding State is a part or unit of the Union not a part or territory of India. The Union is a political body.The signing of the Standstill Agreement by Maharaja Bodhchandra and acceptance by the Governor General were illegal and invalid in the eyes of international law.4. Illegal Appointment of an outsider as Dewan of ManipurMr. Akbar Hydari, the Governor of Assam came in person to Manipur along with Nari Rustomji, Advisor on 23 June, 1948 and asked the Maharaja of Manipur to appoint a Dewan in place of Dominion Agent. The post of Dewan was not included in the Manipur State Constitution Act-1947, which is already in operation since 26 July, 1947. Mr. Akbar Hyder Ali, the Governor of Assam died of heart attack in Manipur while going for a trip for shooting ducks to Waikhong near the Waikhong Salt Spring. Mr. Akbar Hydari was succeeded by Mr., Prakasa from Bihar. Mr. Prakasa came to Manipur on 21-24 March, 1949 on the pretext of assessing the situation between Manipur and Burma. He simply said that the appointment of the Dewan would strengthen the relation between Manipur and India.On 14 April 1949 Rustomji, Advisor to the Governor of Assam came to Imphal with a new Dewan, Major-General Rawal Amar Singh. Rustomji brought with him a letter setting out the powers which the Government of India had given to the Dewan over the State of Manipur. Rustomji pressurised Maharaja Bodhchandra to issue the appointment of Rawal Singh and the conditions of his appointment within two days. No discussion was permitted and Bodhchandra weakly caved in to the pressure. Nobody from Manipur had got the guts to question the legal validity of appointing a new Dewan which was not included in the Manipur State Constitution Act-1947 or in the history of Manipur. Neither the Council of Ministers nor the Legislators questioned the sweeping powers given to the Dewan over the State. The way towards annexation of Manipur had already begun by a deceitful combination of deviousness and bullying on Mr.Prakasa’s (then Governor of Assam) part.Major General Rewal Amar Singh was appointed as the Dewan of Manipur on 14th April, 1949 Mr. Prakasa who succeeded Akbar Hydari declared that there was no question of merging Manipur into India. According to the letter addressed to the Maharaja on 14th April, the Dewan would held the direct charge of the portfolio of Law and Order, administration of Hill Tracts, State Forces and Relation with the Government of India. The administration of the Manipur State shall be carried out under the general superintendence, guidance and control of the Dewan. The Dewan would be assisted by Major Khating, Manipur. Mr. Prakasa also informed the Maharajah that the Government of India did not recognize the Manipur State Council and also the Manipur State Legislative Assembly.This is illegal action on the part of Government of India.5. Forced Manipur State Merger Agreement -1949Maharajah Bodhchandra of Manipur was invited to Shillong in September, 1949 by Mr. Prakasa, Governor of Assam for talks as per wishes of the Maharajah. The Maharajah, having full trust in the relationship with Mr. Prakasa, arrived in Shillong on 17 September 1949 accompanied with his ADC, the Private Secretary and a few household staff members along with some bodyguards.On the first day (18 September, 1949) of the meeting between Maharajah Bodhchndra of Manipur and Mr. Prakasa, the Assam Governor straight away placed before the Maharajah an already prepared Merger Agreement’ whereby Manipur would be ‘merged’ with India and asked him to sign on the same. The Maharajah had given in writing to the Governor of Assam “ I am merely a Constitutional Head of a full responsible Government under the Manipur State Constitution Act -1947 approved by the Government of India (British India) and the voice of the Majority is my voice and it shall be constitutionally and legally binding on me not otherwise” Knowing the Maharajah’s firm stand, Mr. Prakasa did not pursue the matter further for the day.The Maharajah on his return to his Redlands residence at Shillong where he was staying found several Indian Army personnel surrounding the compound of his premises. The house arrest had begun as pre-planned. While under house-arrest, the Maharajah was not allowed to have any communication with the outside world, not to speak to Manipur. When Mr., Prakasa ventured to suggest to Sardar Patel, Union Home Minister that the Maharajah might not agree to sign the merger document. Sardar Patel, who was by then seriously ill. Sardar Patel demanded, “No Brigadier in Shillong?” Thus Sardar Patel, India’s ‘Iron Man’ had given green signal to use force should it became necessary in this land of Non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi. Mr. Prakasa was firm in his insistence that the Maharajah was asked to sign the ‘agreement’ before going back to Manipur. Thus, after resisting for three restless days and sleepless nights, the Maharajah could not see any escape. Ultimately, he signed the treacherous ‘Merger Agreement’ in a state of helplessness, while still under house-arrest, on 21 September, 1949. Under the terms of the “agreement” Manipur comes under Indian rule from 15 October, 1949. Thus the Government of India overthrown the Maharajah, occupied Manipur and annexed to India violating all earlier assurances and declarations. Thus. the signing of Merger agreement on 21 September, 1949 was done by deceit and forceful tactics contrary to international laws. Even after signing the Instrument of Accession, Manipur did not lose her sovereignty as the Union Government was to look after Defence, External affairs and Communications. The people of Manipur is still observing this day as “National Repentance Day”.Manipur and India were both sovereign and independent countries before merger to India. Hence, the agreement between two sovereign and independent countries should have been signed according to international law i.e free from duress or coercion or force. Therefore the Government of India was violating the international law in forcing and putting the Maharajah Bodhchandra under house arrest from 17 September to 21 September, 1949 in order to extract his signature.Further, Maharajah Bodhchandra had already become a Constitutional Ruler since adoption of the Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947 on 26 July 1947. He is not competent to sign the Manipur Merger Agreement without the approval of the Manipur State Legislative Assembly which was inaugurated and functioning with Chief Minister, Speaker and 51 other elected members since 18 October, 1948.Further, the said Manipur Merger Agreement was not done under any Act or Law or Parliamentary Resolution. It was done hastily by the decision of Sri Prakasa, Governor of Assam, V.P. Menon, Advisor to the Government of India violating international laws, the Manipur State Constitution Act-1947 and the Indian Independence Act-1947.Further, the said Manipur Merger Agreement was not done under any prescribed format under any Act or Rule. It was done on a draft hastily prepared and amended many times by Nari Rustomji, Advisor to the Governor of Assam, V.P. Menon, Advisor to the Government of India. It should be rendered invalid.The Manipur Merger Agreement of 1949 does not have any legality and constitutional validity in the views of the educated youths of Manipur.There was nobody among the Indian Leaders who would listen to his legal assertion that sovereignty of the Manipur was vested in the people and that it was in the fitness of things to hear the people’s voice and learn their sentiment so that the line of action might not in any case be unconstitutional. He expressed his desire to return to Manipur the next day (19 September) itself to expedite the matters. On 19 September he could not meet any representative of the Government of India but merely exchanged correspondence with the Governor of Assam expressing his sense of betrayal and reiterating his desire to go back to Manipur. The Maharajah was a totally broken man who spent his time weeping alone in the ‘Redland’ where he was kept under house arrest by what Nari Rustomji called, “protective guard to ensure that all should be well.” The Redlands was his private lands. Actually nobody has got the right to enter the Redlands without permission of the Maharajah. Posting and occupation of Redlands by the so called Protective Guards sent by the Governor of Assam amount to trespassing and punishable under the law. In that situation, according to Rustomji “the Maharajah was beset himself with emotion, now bursting into tears, now wrapped in sullen melancholy.”.According to Article VIII of the Manipur Merger Agreement, “The Government of India shall also undertake to make suitable provisions for the employment of Manipuris in the various branches of Public Services, and in every way encourage Manipuris to join them” But not a single. Meitei and Meitei Pangan is given employment under this agreement. No reservation quota is created to recruit the Meitei and Meitei Pangan in all India Services like IAS, IPS, IFS etc. during 1950-2018. The backlog must be around 300-500 in every category of employment. The Government of India clearly violated this agreement.The Manipur Merger Agreement of 1949 does not have any legality and constitutional validity in the views of the people of Manipur.6. Manipur State Assembly rejected the Merger AgreementThe 4th sitting of the 3rd session of the Manipur State Assembly in its session held at the Johnston School on 28th September, 1949 at 2.30.p.m rejected the “Merger Agreement signed on 21st September 1949” and declared the Merger Agreement invalid as the powers and authorities of Maharajah had been vested with the Manipur State Assembly. The excerpt of the Assembly proceedings was published in the Manipur State Gazette, part IV, dated 14 October 1949. Mr. T.C. Tiankham Speaker, Mr. M. K, Priyobarta Singh, Chief Minister and 6 other Ministers and 43 Hon’ble Members were present and adopted the resolution. The copies of the declaration signed by P.B. Singh, Chief Minister, T.C. Tiankham, Speaker, Arambam Ibungotomcha Singh, Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs. was sent to the Government of India. But there is no reply from the Government of India on this issue during the last 68 years. It is said that the Kuki Chiefs were greatly disheartened to hear the news and they sent 250 armed warriors to protect the Maharajah from any possible attack on the Maharajah. Seeing the honest and dedicated loyalty of the Kukis, the Maharajah gave them lands near the Manipur Palace for their permanent settlement. This place is now called “Haokip Veng”.7. The Merger Agreement was neither approved by his Council of Ministers nor ratified by the Manipur State Legislative Assembly.The weakness of the Agreement lies also in the fact that the people of Manipur did not give consent in any form to the Merger Agreement as no referendum was held on that issue. Further, the Merger Agreement was neither approved by his Council of Ministers nor ratified by the Manipur State Legislative Assembly. Therefore, the Merger Agreement was illegal.8.The dissolution of Manipur State Legislative Assembly was in violation of Independence Act, 1947 enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty on 18th July 1947Once Manipur became part of the India, the Government of India dissolved the State’s Constituent Assembly on 15 October, 1949 without repealing the Manipur Constitution Act-1947. Here I may be allowed to ask a simple question: Can the present Manipur Legislative Assembly be dissolved by a simple administrative order of the Government of India or by an order of the President of India?The Indian Independence Act, 1947, Section 9(5) states that“ No order shall be made under this section, by the Governor of any Province, after the appointed day, or, by the Governor-General, after the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and forty-eight ( 31 March, 1948), or such earlier date as may be determined, in the case of either Dominion,. by “any law of the Legislature of that Dominion.”.However, violating the provisions of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, para 9(5), Shri C. Rajagopalcharry, Governor General of India issued an order on 15 October 1949 declaring that ‘the Ministers’ in Manipur State shall cease to function and the Legislature’ of the State shall stand ‘dissolved’ citing Sections 3 and 4 of the Extra Provincial Jurisdiction Act, 1947 (Act XLVII of 1947). This is in violation of Independence Act, 1947 and again illegal. Under which provision of the Indian Constitution, Shri C. Rajagopalcharry, Governor General of India issued this order on 15 October 1949?9. The Merged States (Laws)- Act, 1949 Act no. 59 of 1949 dated 26th December, 1949 is IllegalThe Merged States (Laws)- Act, 1949 Act no. 59 of 1949 dated 26th December, 1949 is an Act to extend certain laws to certain areas administered as parts of Governors’ Provinces or as Chief Commissioners’ Provinces. The legality of this Act is questionable as it has been passed after actual merger of Manipur to dominion India has already taken place illegally.Why should a highly responsible democratic Government of India indulged in such deceitful action in order to provide legality to a highly illegal action committed earlier. It is just like hanging somebody first and then issuing the hanging order later on.10. States Merger (Chief Commissioners’ Provinces) Order, 1950 was “ultra-vires” and “null and void”As per the Notification issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Law, dated the 22 January 1950, paras 1(1) (2), 2(1) the States Merger (Chief Commissioners’ Provinces) Order, 1950 shall come into force only with effect from the 23 January, 1950. Therefore the State of Manipur should have become administered under a Chief Commissioner only from 23 January, 1950 onwards and as such the orders issued by the Ministry of States, New Delhi, dated the 15 October 1949 hurriedly merging Manipur with the Dominion of India was illegal. Further the order issued by the Chief Commissioner, Major General Rawal Amar Singh on 15th October 1949, who was appointed on the same day, ceasing the functioning of the Ministers of the State and dissolving the Manipur Legislative Assembly were clearly “ultra-vires” and “null and void” orders ie they were illegal and invalid orders issued prior to having the “authority to do so”.This “violated” the mandatory provisions of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, para 9(5) which say that “no order shall be made by the interim Government of the Dominion after 31 March, 1948” pertaining to any Political issue so long the Paramountcy is deemed “to be continuing to exist and its directives and orders issued earlier remaining quite valid till the interim Dominion of India becomes a full-fledged sovereign Power of her own with Laws framed under a Constitution adopted enabling to supersede all the Laws and orders framed and issued within the ambit of the Paramountcy ie till the 26 January 1950. Therefore it was in this very context that the Notification of the Law Ministry issued by C. Rajagopalchari, Governor General of India (June 1948 until 26 January 1950,)was illegal and invalid.The Indian Independence Act, 1947, para 9(5) states that “‘ No order shall be made under this section, by the Governor of any Province, after the appointed day, or, by the Governor-General, after the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and forty-eight (31 March, 1948), or such earlier date as may be determined, in the case of either Dominion,. by ‘any law of the Legislature of that Dominion.”.-IFP

Notifications(460 kb)Money Transfer Service Scheme – Revised GuidelinesRBI/2012-13/436A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 89March 12, 2013ToAll Authorised Persons, who are Indian Agents under Money Transfer Service SchemeMadam / Sir,Money Transfer Service Scheme – Revised GuidelinesAttention of all Authorised Persons (APs), who are Indian Agents under the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS) is invited to the Notification dated June 4, 2003 on MTSS, as amended from time to time and the specific permission accorded to them under FEMA, 1999 by the Reserve Bank to undertake inward cross-border money transfer activities in India, through tie-up arrangements with Overseas Principals.2. The MTSS Guidelines have been revised in consultation with the Government of India and the revised MTSS Guidelines are in the Annex-I.3. All other instructions issued vide the said Notification ibid, as amended from time to time remain unchanged.4. These guidelines would also be applicable mutatis mutandis to all Sub Agents of the Indian Agents under MTSS and it will be the sole responsibility of the APs (Indian Agents) to ensure that their Sub Agents also adhere to these guidelines.5. Authorised Persons (Indian Agents) may bring the contents of this circular to the notice of their constituents concerned.6. The directions contained in this Circular have been issued under Sections 10(4) and 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999) and are without prejudice to permissions/approvals if any, required under any other law.Yours faithfully,(Rudra Narayan Kar)Chief General Manager--in-ChargeAnnex-IRevised Guidelines on Money Transfer Service SchemePART-ASECTION IGuidelines for permitting(authorising) Indian Agents under Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS):1. Introduction1.1Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS) is a quick and easy way of transferring personal remittances from abroad to beneficiaries in India. Only inward personal remittances into India such as remittances towards family maintenance and remittances favouring foreign tourists visiting India are permissible. No outward remittance from India is permissible under MTSS. The system envisages a tie-up between reputed money transfer companies abroad known as Overseas Principals and agents in India known as Indian Agents who would disburse funds to beneficiaries in India at ongoing exchange rates. The Indian Agent is not allowed to remit any amount to the Overseas Principal. Under MTSS the remitters and the beneficiaries are individuals only.Statutory Basis1.2 In terms of the powers granted under Section 10 (1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, the Reserve Bank of India may accord necessary permission (authorization) to any person to act as an Indian Agent under the Money Transfer Service Scheme. No person can handle the business of cross-border money transfer to India in any capacity unless specifically permitted by the Reserve Bank.1.3 These guidelines lay down basic conditions for grant of permission (authorisation) to Indian Agents and renewal of existing MTSS permissions given to them. These guidelines also include guidelines for Overseas Principals and appointment of Sub-Agents by the Indian Agents. The guidelines are not exhaustive and other relevant information, security considerations, etc., will be factored into the decision of permitting an entity. These guidelines will apply to all applications pending with the Reserve Bank for new arrangements, renewal of permissions given to Indian Agents, etc. Existing Indian Agents who do not meet the eligibility norms will have to meet the norms in a phased manner with the approval of the Reserve Bank or wind up the business of money transfer immediately.2. GuidelinesEntry NormsThe applicant to become an Indian Agent should be an Authorised Dealer Category-I bank or an Authorised Dealer Category-II or a Full Fledged Money Changer (FFMC), as defined in the A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 25 [A.P. (FL Series) Circular No. 02] dated March 6, 2006, or a Scheduled Commercial Bank or the Department of Posts.The applicant should have minimum Net Owned Funds of Rs.50 lakh.Note :- (i) Owned Funds :- (Paid-up Equity Capital + Free reserves + Credit balance in Profit & Loss A/c) minus (Accumulated balance of loss, Deferred revenue expenditure and Other intangible assets)(ii) Net Owned Funds :- Owned funds minus the amount of investments in shares of its subsidiaries, companies in the same group, all (other) non-banking financial companies as also the book value of debentures, bonds, outstanding loans and advances made to and deposits with its subsidiaries and companies in the same group in excess of 10 per cent of the Owned funds.3. Procedure for making Applications to the Reserve BankApplication for necessary permission to act as an Indian Agent may be made to the Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Forex Markets Division, Foreign Exchange Department, Reserve Bank of India, Central Office, Amar Building, Fort, Mumbai-400 001 and should be accompanied by the documents pertaining to its proposed Overseas Principal, as detailed in Section II below and the following documents:A declaration to the effect that no proceedings have been initiated by / are pending with the Directorate of Enforcement (DoE) / Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) or any other law enforcing authorities, against the applicant or its directors and that no criminal cases are initiated / pending against the applicant or its directors.A declaration to the effect that proper policy framework on KYC / AML / CFT, in accordance with the guidelines issued vide A.P.(DIR Series) Circular No. 18[ A.P.(FL/RL Series) Circular No. 05] dated November 27, 2009, as amended from time to time, will be put in place on obtaining permission (authorization) of the Reserve Bank and before commencement of money transfer operations.Name and address of the Overseas Principal with whom the MTSS will be conducted.Full details of the operation of the scheme by the Overseas Principal.List of branches in India and their addresses where MTSS will be conducted by the applicant.Estimated volume of business per month/year under the scheme.Audited Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Account for the last two financial years of the applicant, if available or a copy of the latest audited accounts, with a certificate from Statutory Auditors regarding the position of the Net Owned Funds as on the date of application.Memorandum and Articles of Association of the applicant where either a provision exists for taking up money transfer business or an appropriate amendment thereto has been filed with the Company Law Board.Confidential Report from at least two of the applicant's bankers in sealed cover.Details of sister/ associated concerns of the applicant functioning in the financial sector.A certified copy of the board resolution for undertaking money transfer business by the applicant.A letter from the proposed Overseas Principal, agreeing to enter into tie up with the applicant and also to provide necessary collateral.4. Collateral requirementCollateral equivalent to 3 days' average drawings or US $ 50,000, whichever is higher, may be kept by the Overseas Principal in favour of the Indian Agent with a designated bank in India. The minimum amount of US $ 50,000 shall be kept as a foreign currency deposit while the balance amount may be kept in the form of a Bank Guarantee. The adequacy of collateral should be reviewed by Indian Agents at quarterly intervals on the basis of remittances received during the past three months.5. Other conditionsOnly cross-border personal remittances, such as, remittances towards family maintenance and remittances favouring foreign tourists visiting India shall be allowed under this arrangement. Donations/contributions to charitable institutions/trusts, trade related remittances, remittance towards purchase of property, investments or credit to NRE Accounts shall not be made through this arrangement.A cap of US $ 2500 has been placed on individual remittance under the scheme. Amounts up to Rs.50,000/- may be paid in cash to a beneficiary in India. Any amount exceeding this limit shall be paid by means of account payee cheque/ demand draft/ payment order, etc., or credited directly to the beneficiary's bank account only. However, in exceptional circumstances, where the beneficiary is a foreign tourist, higher amounts may be disbursed in cash. Full details of such transactions should be kept on record for scrutiny by the auditors/ inspectors.Only 30 remittances can be received by a single individual beneficiary under the scheme during a calendar year.6. Criteria for RBI decisions(i) The Indian Agents need to have strength and efficiency to function profitably in a highly competitive environment. As a number of Indian Agents are already functioning, permission (authorization) will be issued on a very selective basis to those who meet the above requirements, have necessary outreach and who are likely to conform to the best international and domestic standards of customer service and efficiency.(ii) The Indian Agent should commence its money transfer operations under the scheme within a period of six months from the date of issuance of permission(authorization) and inform the Central Office and the Regional Office concerned of the Foreign Exchange Department of the Reserve Bank.SECTION IIGuidelines for Overseas Principals:Indian Agents entering into arrangements with Money Transfer Operators overseas, known as Overseas Principals, may note that Overseas Principals with adequate volume of business, track record and outreach will only be considered under the scheme. Further, since the primary objective of permitting the business of money transfer business in the country is to facilitate cheaper and more efficient means of receipt of remittances, operators with limited outreach in terms of branch network in the country and localized operations overseas will not be entertained.Applicant Indian Agents should submit the following documents / comply with the following requirements, in respect of their Overseas Principals:The Overseas Principal should obtain necessary authorisation from the Department of Payment and Settlement Systems, Reserve Bank of India under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act (PSS Act), 2007 to commence/ operate a payment system. Prior to such authorization, the Reserve Bank will verify the background and antecedents of the Overseas Principal with the help of Govt. of India,The Overseas Principal should be a registered entity, licenced by the Central Bank / Government or financial regulatory authority of the country concerned for carrying on Money Transfer Activities. The country of registration of the Overseas Principal should be AML compliant.The minimum Net Worth of Overseas Principals should be at least US $ 1 million as per the latest audited balance sheet, which should be maintained at all times. However, the Reserve Bank may consider relaxing the minimum Net Worth criterion in case of Overseas Principals incorporated in FATF member countries and are supervised by the concerned Central Bank/ Government or financial regulatory authority.The Overseas Principal should be well established in the money transfer business with a track record of operations in well regulated markets.The arrangement with Overseas Principal should result in considerably increasing access to formal money transfer facilities at both ends.The Overseas Principal should be registered with the overseas trade / Industry bodies.The Overseas Principal should have a good rating from one of the international credit rating agencies.The Overseas Principal should submit confidential reports from at least two of its bankers.The Overseas Principal should submit a report certified by independent Chartered Accountants, regarding steps taken to comply with anti money laundering norms in the home/ host country.The Overseas Principals will be fully responsible for the activities of their Agents and Sub Agents in India.Proper records of remitters as also beneficiaries pertaining to all pay-outs in India are to be maintained by the Overseas Principals. All records must be made accessible on demand to the Reserve Bank or other agencies of the Government of India, viz., Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Home Affairs, FIU-IND, etc. Full details of the remitters and the beneficiaries should be provided by the Overseas Principals, if called for.SECTION IIIGuidelines for appointment of Sub Agents by Indian Agents:1. The SchemeUnder the Scheme, Indian Agents can enter into Sub Agency agreements with entities, fulfilling certain conditions, for the purpose of undertaking money transfer business.2. Sub AgentsA Sub Agent should have a place of business, and whose bonafides are acceptable to the Indian Agent. Indian Agents are free to decide on the tenor of the arrangement as also the commission or fee through mutual agreement with the Sub Agent. The audit and on-site inspection of premises and records of the Sub Agents by the Indian Agent to be conducted at least once in a month and in a year respectively.3. Procedure for Submission of information in respect of Sub Agents by Indian AgentsIndian Agents should submit necessary information in the prescribed format (Annex-III) in soft copy form pertaining to their existing Sub Agents within one month of the date of this circular, to the respective Regional Offices of the Foreign Exchange Department of the Reserve Bank under whose jurisdiction the registered office of the Indian Agent falls, for onward submission to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Govt. of India (GoI) through the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Govt. of India (GoI). Thereafter, Indian Agents should submit on a quarterly basis necessary information in the prescribed format (Annex-III) in soft copy form pertaining to their Sub Agents appointed during a quarter within 15 days of the end of the quarter, to the respective Regional Offices of the Foreign Exchange Department of the Reserve Bank under whose jurisdiction the registered office of the Indian Agent falls for onward submission to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Govt. of India (GoI) through the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Govt. of India (GoI). In case of any objection by the MHA, the Sub Agency arrangement concerned should be terminated immediately.Indian Agents should also furnish certificates along with the information in Annex-III that the Sub Agents appointed by them comply with the eligibility norms and also they have done due diligence, wherever applicable, in respect of them.4. Due Diligence of Sub AgentsThe Indian Agents and the Overseas Principals should undertake the following minimum checks while conducting due diligence of the Sub Agents, other than ADs Cat-I, ADs Cat-II, Scheduled Commercial Banks, FFMCs and the Deptt. of Posts.existing business activities of the Sub Agent/ its position in areaShop & Establishment/ other applicable municipal certification in favour of the Sub Agentverification of physical existence of location of the Sub Agentconduct certificate of the Sub Agent from the local police authorities. (certified copy of Memorandum and Articles of Association and Certificate of Incorporation in respect of incorporated entities).Note: Although obtaining of conduct certificate of the Sub Agent from the local police authorities is non-mandatory for the Indian Agents, the Indian Agents must take due care to avoid appointing individuals/ entities as Sub Agents who have cases / proceedings initiated / pending against them by any law enforcing agencies.declaration regarding past criminal cases, cases initiated/ pending against the Sub Agent and/or its directors/ partners by any law enforcing agency, if anyPAN Card of the Sub Agents and its directors/ partnersPhotographs of the directors/ partners and the key persons of the Sub AgentThe above checks should be done on a regular basis, at least once in a year. The Indian Agents should obtain from the Sub Agents proper documentary evidence confirming the location of the Sub Agents in addition to personal visits to the site. The Indian Agents should discontinue agreements with Sub Agents who do not meet the criteria laid down above within three months from the date of this circular.5. Selection of CentersThe Indian Agents are free to select centers for operationalising the Scheme. However, this may be advised to the Reserve Bank.6. TrainingThe Indian Agents would be expected to impart training to the Sub Agents as regards operations and maintenance of records.7. Reporting, Audit and InspectionThe Indian Agents would be expected to put in place adequate arrangements for reporting of transactions by the Sub Agents to the Indian Agents (on a regular basis) in a simple format to be prescribed by them, say at monthly intervals.Regular spot audits of all locations of Sub Agents, at least on a monthly basis, should be conducted by Indian Agents. Such audits should involve a dedicated team and 'mystery customer'(Individuals acting as potential customers to experience and measure the extent up to which people and process perform as they should) concept should be used to test the compliance carried out by Sub Agents. As mentioned above, a system of inspection of the books of the Sub Agents should be put in place. The purpose of such inspection, which should be done at least once a year, would be to ensure that the money transfer business is being carried out by the Sub Agents in conformity with the terms of agreement/prevailing RBI guidelines and that necessary records are being maintained by the Sub Agents.Note:- As of now, the Indian Agents are fully responsible for the activities of their Sub Agents. While the Indian Agents will be encouraged to act as self-regulated entities, the onus of ensuring the conduct of activities of the Sub Agents in the prescribed manner will lie solely on the Indian Agents concerned and Reserve Bank of India can in no way be held responsible for the activities of the Sub Agents. Each Indian Agent would be required to conduct due diligence before appointing a Sub Agent and any irregularity observed could render the Indian Agent’s permission liable for cancellation.SECTION IVGuidelines for renewal of permission(authorization) of existing Indian Agents:1. Necessary permission to Indian Agents will be issued initially for a period of one year, which may be renewed for one to three years at a time on the basis of fulfilment of all conditions and other directions/ instructions issued by the Reserve Bank from time to time by Indian Agents.2. The applicant should be an Authorised Dealer Category-I bank or an Authorised Dealer Category-II or a Full Fledged Money Changer (FFMC), as defined in the A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 25 [A.P. (FL Series) Circular No. 02] dated March 6, 2006, or a Scheduled Commercial Bank or the Department of Posts.3. The Indian Agent should have minimum Net Owned Funds of Rs.50 lakh.4. Application for renewal of permission should be submitted to the Regional Office concerned of the Foreign Exchange Department of the Reserve Bank under whose jurisdiction the registered office of the Indian Agent falls along-with the documents pertaining to the Overseas Principal as detailed in Section II above and the following documents:A declaration to the effect that no proceedings have been initiated by / are pending with the Directorate of Enforcement (DoE) / Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) or any other law enforcing authorities, against the Indian Agent or its directors and that no criminal cases are initiated / pending against the Indian Agent or its directors.A write up on the KYC / AML / CFT, risk management and internal control policy framework, put in place by the Indian Agent.Audited Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Account for the last two financial years of the Indian Agent, if available or a copy of the latest audited accounts, with a certificate from statutory auditors regarding the position of the Net Owned Funds as on the date of application.Confidential Reports from at least two of the bankers of the Indian Agent in sealed cover.Details of sister/ associated concerns of the Indian Agent functioning in the financial sector.A certified copy of the board resolution for renewal of permission.Note :- An application for the renewal of permission under MTSS shall be made not later than one month, or such other period as the Reserve Bank may prescribe, before the expiry of the permission. Where an entity submits an application for the renewal of its MTSS permission, the permission shall continue in force until the date on which the permission is renewed or the application for renewal of permission is rejected, as the case may be. No application for renewal of MTSS permission shall be made after the expiry of the permission.SECTION VInspection of Indian AgentsInspections of the Indian Agents may be conducted by the Reserve Bank under the provisions of Section 12(1) of the FEMA, 1999.SECTION VIKYC/ AML/ CFT Guidelines for the Indian AgentsDetailed instructions on Know Your Customer (KYC) norms/Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) for Indian Agents under MTSS in respect of cross-border inward remittance activities, in the context of the FATF Recommendations on Anti Money Laundering standards and on Combating the Financing of Terrorism have been prescribed (Annex-II).SECTION VIIGeneral InstructionsAll Overseas Principals are required to submit their annual audited balance sheet along with a certificate on Net Worth from their Statutory Auditors to the Central Office of the Foreign Exchange Department and the Department of Payment and Settlement Systems of the Reserve Bank. Similarly, all Indian Agents are required to submit their annual audited balance sheet along with a certificate from their Statutory Auditors on Net Owned Funds to the Regional offices concerned of the Foreign Exchange Department of the Reserve Bank. As the Overseas Principals and the Indian Agents are expected to maintain minimum Net Worth and Net Owned Funds respectively on an ongoing basis, they are required to bring it to the notice of the Reserve Bank immediately along with a detailed plan of restoring the Net Worth/ Net Owned Funds to the minimum required level, if there is any reduction in their Net Worth/ Net Owned Funds below the minimum level.PART-BReports / Statements1. A quarterly statement of the quantum of remittances received, as per the enclosed format (Annex-IV) should be furnished by the Indian Agents to the Regional Offices (ROs) concerned of the Foreign Exchange Department (FED) of the Reserve Bank, under whose jurisdiction their registered offices fall and Foreign Exchange Department, Forex Markets Division, Central Office, Amar Building, Fort, Mumbai-400001 within 15 days from the close of the quarter to which it relates.2. List of their additional locations should be furnished by the Indian Agents to the ROs concerned of the FED of the Reserve Bank, under whose jurisdiction their registered offices fall, on quarterly basis within 15 days from the close of the quarter to which it relates.3. Indian Agents should forward the list of their Sub Agents, Overseas Principal-Indian Agent wise along with the addresses of all the locations of their Sub Agents in excel format in soft form by emailing the same. Indian Agents should e-mail in excel format in soft form and to the concerned FED Regional Office, full updated list (names and addresses of all the locations) of the Sub Agents, whenever they appoint/ remove any Sub Agent. Indian Agents should visit the RBI website and verify the list of Sub Agents on regular intervals and any aberration to the list observed may immediately be brought to the notice of the concerned FED ROs and FED Central Office (CO). Further, Indian Agents should confirm the veracity on quarterly basis of the list placed on RBI wesbite to FED CO either in form of a letter or by e-mail within 15 days of the end of a quarter.3. A half-yearly statement of the collateral held as at the end of June and December every year, as per the enclosed format (Annex-V) should be furnished by the Indian Agents to the ROs concerned of the FED of the Reserve Bank, under whose jurisdiction their registered offices fall and Foreign Exchange Department, Forex Markets Division, Central Office, Amar Building, Fort, Mumbai-400001 within 15 days from the close of the half-year to which it relates.Annex-IIKYC/ AML/ CFT Guidelines for Indian AgentsSECTION-IKnow Your Customer (KYC) norms/Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT)/Obligation of Authorised Persons (Indian Agents) under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, (PMLA), 2002, as amended by Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2009 - Cross Border Inward Remittance under Money Transfer Service Scheme1. IntroductionThe offence of Money Laundering has been defined in Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) as "whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime and projecting it as untainted property shall be guilty of offence of money laundering". Money Laundering can be called a process by which money or other assets obtained as proceeds of crime are exchanged for "clean money" or other assets with no obvious link to their criminal origins.2. The objectiveThe objective of prescribing KYC/AML/CFT guidelines is to prevent the system of cross border inward money transfer into India from all over the world under the MTSS from being used, intentionally or unintentionally, by criminal elements for money laundering or terrorist financing activities. KYC procedures also enable Authorised Persons, who are Indian Agents under MTSS [referred as APs (Indian Agents) hereinafter] to know/understand their customers and their financial dealings better, which in turn help them manage their risks prudently.3. Definition of CustomerFor the purpose of KYC policy, a ‘Customer’ is defined as :a person who receives occasional/ regular cross border inward remittances under MTSS;one on whose behalf a cross border inward remittance under MTSS is received (i.e., the beneficial owner)[In view of Government of India Notification dated February 12, 2010 - Rule 9, sub-rule (1A) of PML Rules - 'Beneficial Owner' means the natural person who ultimately owns or controls a client and or the person on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted, and includes a person who exercises ultimate effective control over a juridical person].4. Guidelines4.1 GeneralAPs (Indian Agents) should keep in mind that the information collected from the customer while making payment of cross border inward remittances is to be treated as confidential and details thereof are not to be divulged for cross selling or any other like purposes. APs (Indian Agents) should, therefore, ensure that information sought from the customer is relevant to the perceived risk, is not intrusive, and is in conformity with the guidelines issued in this regard. Any other information from the customer, wherever necessary, should be sought separately with his/her consent.4.2 KYC PolicyAPs (Indian Agents) should frame their KYC policies incorporating the following four key elements:Customer Acceptance Policy;Customer Identification Procedures;Monitoring of Transactions; andRisk Management.4.3 Customer Acceptance Policy (CAP)a) Every AP (Indian Agent) should develop a clear Customer Acceptance Policy laying down explicit criteria for acceptance of customers. The Customer Acceptance Policy must ensure that explicit guidelines are in place on the following aspects of customer relationship in the AP (Indian Agent).No remittance is received in anonymous or fictitious/ benami name(s). [APs (Indian Agents) should not allow any transaction in any anonymous or fictitious name (s) or on behalf of other persons whose identity has not been disclosed or cannot be verified in view of Government of India Notification dated June 16, 2010 Rule 9, sub-rule (1C)].Parameters of risk perception are clearly defined in terms of the nature of business activity, location of customer and his clients, mode of payments, volume of turnover, social and financial status, etc. to enable categorisation of customers into low, medium and high risk (APs may choose any suitable nomenclature, viz., level I, level II and level III). Customers requiring very high level of monitoring, e.g., Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) may, if considered necessary, be categorised even higher.Documentation requirements and other information to be collected in respect of different categories of customers depending on perceived risk and keeping in mind the requirements of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, (PMLA), 2002, as amended by Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2009, Prevention of Money-Laundering (Maintenance of Records of the Nature and Value of Transactions, the Procedure and Manner of Maintaining and Time for Furnishing Information and Verification and Maintenance of Records of the Identity of the Clients of the Banking Companies, Financial Institutions and Intermediaries) Rules, 2005, as amended from time to time, as well as instructions / guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank, from time to time.Not to make payment of any remittance where the AP (Indian Agent) is unable to apply appropriate customer due diligence measures, i.e., AP (Indian Agent) is unable to verify the identity and /or obtain documents required as per the risk categorisation due to non-cooperation of the customer or non reliability of the data/information furnished to the AP (Indian Agent). It is, however, necessary to have suitable built in safeguards to avoid harassment of the customer. In the circumstances when an AP (Indian Agent) believes that it would no longer be satisfied that it knows the true identity of the customer, the AP (Indian Agent) should file an STR with FIU-IND.Circumstances, in which a customer is permitted to act on behalf of another person/entity, should be clearly spelt out, the beneficial owner should be identified and all reasonable steps should be taken to verify his identity.b) APs (Indian Agents) should prepare a profile for each new customer, where regular cross-border inward remittances are/ expected to be received, based on risk categorisation. The customer profile may contain information relating to customer’s identity, social / financial status, etc. The nature and extent of due diligence will depend on the risk perceived by the AP (Indian Agent). However, while preparing customer profile, APs (Indian Agents) should take care to seek only such information from the customer, which is relevant to the risk category and is not intrusive. The customer profile is a confidential document and details contained therein should not be divulged for cross selling or any other purposes.c) For the purpose of risk categorisation, individuals (other than High Net Worth) and entities whose identities and sources of wealth can be easily identified and transactions by whom by and large conform to the known profile, may be categorised as low risk. Customers that are likely to pose a higher than average risk should be categorised as medium or high risk depending on customer's background, nature and location of activity, country of origin, sources of funds and his client profile, etc. APs(Indian Agents) should apply enhanced due diligence measures based on the risk assessment, thereby requiring intensive ‘due diligence’ for higher risk customers, especially those for whom the sources of funds are not clear. Examples of customers requiring enhanced due diligence include (a) non­resident customers; (b) customers from countries that do not or insufficiently apply the FATF standards; (c) high net worth individuals; (d) politically exposed persons (PEPs); (e) non-face to face customers; and (f) those with dubious reputation as per public information available, etc.d) It is important to bear in mind that the adoption of customer acceptance policy and its implementation should not become too restrictive and must not result in denial of cross border inward remittance facilities to general public.e) With a view to preventing the system of cross border inward money transfer into India from all over the world under the MTSS from being used, intentionally or unintentionally, by criminal elements for money laundering or terrorist financing activities, whenever there is suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing or when other factors give rise to a belief that the customer does not, in fact, pose a low risk, APs (Indian Agents) should carry out full scale customer due diligence (CDD) before making payment of any remittance.4.4 Customer Identification Procedure (CIP)a) The policy approved by the Board of APs (Indian Agents) should clearly spell out the Customer Identification Procedure while making payment to a beneficiary or when the AP has a doubt about the authenticity/veracity or the adequacy of the previously obtained customer identification data. Customer identification means identifying the customer and verifying his/her identity by using reliable, independent source documents, data or information. APs (Indian Agents) need to obtain sufficient information necessary to establish, to their satisfaction, the identity of each new customer, whether regular or occasional. Being satisfied means that the AP must be able to satisfy the competent authorities that due diligence was observed based on the risk profile of the customer in compliance with the extant guidelines in place. Such risk based approach is considered necessary to avoid disproportionate cost to APs (Indian Agents) and a burdensome regime for the customers. The APs (Indian Agents) should obtain sufficient identification data to verify the identity of the customer and his address/location. For customers that are natural persons, the APs (Indian Agents) should obtain sufficient identification document /s to verify the identity of the customer and his address/location. For customers that are legal persons, the AP (Indian Agent) should (i) verify the legal status of the legal person through proper and relevant documents; (ii) verify that any person purporting to act on behalf of the legal person is so authorised and identify and verify the identity of that person; and (iii) understand the ownership and control structure of the customer and determine who are the natural persons who ultimately control the legal person. Customer identification requirements in respect of a few typical cases, especially, legal persons requiring an extra element of caution are given in paragraph 4.5 below for guidance of APs (Indian Agents). APs (Indian Agents) may, however, frame their own internal guidelines based on their experience of dealing with such persons, their normal prudence and the legal requirements as per established practices. If the AP (Indian Agent) decides to undertake such transactions in terms of the Customer Acceptance Policy, the AP (Indian Agent) should take reasonable measures to identify the beneficial owner(s) and verify his/her/their identity in a manner so that it is satisfied that it knows who the beneficial owner(s) is/are [in view of Government of India Notification dated June 16, 2010 - Rule 9 sub-rule (1A) of PML Rules].Note: Rule 9(1A) of Prevention of Money Laundering Rules, 2005 requires that every AP (Indian Agent) under MTSS shall identify the beneficial owner and take all reasonable steps to verify his identity. The term "beneficial owner" has been defined as the natural person who ultimately owns or controls a client and/or the person on whose behalf the transaction is being conducted, and includes a person who exercises ultimate effective control over a juridical person. Government of India has since examined the issue and has specified the procedure for determination of Beneficial Ownership. The procedure as advised by the Government of India is as under:A. Where the client is a person other than an individual or trust, the AP (Indian Agents) shall identify the beneficial owners of the client and take reasonable measures to verify the identity of such persons, through the following information:The identity of the natural person, who, whether acting alone or together, or through one or more juridical person, exercises control through ownership or who ultimately has a controlling ownership interest.Explanation: Controlling ownership interest means ownership of/entitlement to more than 25 percent of shares or capital or profits of the juridical person, where the juridical person is a company; ownership of/entitlement to more than 15% of the capital or profits of the juridical person where the juridical person is a partnership; or, ownership of/entitlement to more than 15% of the property or capital or profits of the juridical person where the juridical person is an unincorporated association or body of individuals.In cases where there exists doubt under (i) as to whether the person with the controlling ownership interest is the beneficial owner or where no natural person exerts control through ownership interests, the identity of the natural person exercising control over the juridical person through other means.Explanation: Control through other means can be exercised through voting rights, agreement, arrangements, etc.Where no natural person is identified under (i) or (ii) above, the identity of the relevant natural person who holds the position of senior managing official.B. Where the client is a trust, the AP (Indian Agent) shall identify the beneficial owners of the client and take reasonable measures to verify the identity of such persons, through the identity of the settler of the trust, the trustee, the protector, the beneficiaries with 15% or more interest in the trust and any other natural person exercising ultimate effective control over the trust through a chain of control or ownership.C. Where the client or the owner of the controlling interest is a company listed on a stock exchange, or is a majority-owned subsidiary of such a company, it is not necessary to identify and verify the identity of any shareholder or beneficial owner of such companies.b) Some close relatives, e.g., wife, son, daughter and parents, etc., who live with their husband, father / mother and son / daughter, as the case may be, may find it difficult to undertake transactions with APs (Indian Agents) as the utility bills required for address verification are not in their name. It is clarified, that in such cases, APs (Indian Agents) can obtain an identity document and a utility bill of the relative with whom the prospective customer is living along with a declaration from the relative that the said person (prospective customer) wanting to undertake a transaction is a relative and is staying with him/her. APs (Indian Agents) can use any supplementary evidence such as a letter received through post for further verification of the address. While issuing operational instructions to the branches on the subject, APs (Indian Agents) should keep in mind the spirit of instructions issued by the Reserve Bank and avoid undue hardships to individuals who are, otherwise, classified as low risk customers.c) APs (Indian Agents) should introduce a system of periodical updation of customer identification data, if there is a continuing relationship.d) An indicative list of the type of documents / information that may be relied upon for customer identification is given in SECTION-II. It is clarified that permanent correct address, as referred to in SECTION-II means the address at which a person usually resides and can be taken as the address as mentioned in a utility bill or any other document accepted by the AP for verification of the address of the customer. When there are suspicions of money laundering or financing of the activities relating to terrorism or where there are doubts about the adequacy or veracity of previously obtained customer identification data, APs (Indian Agents) should review the due diligence measures including verifying again the identity of the client and obtaining information on the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship, as the case may be. [In view of Government of India Notification dated June 16, 2010- Rule 9 sub-rule (1D) of PML Rules].e) Payment to Beneficiariesi) For payment to beneficiaries, the identification documents, as mentioned at SECTION-II, should be verified and a copy retained. The copy of identification documents obtained should contain current and legible photograph of beneficiaries. This shall continue for a period of next six months from the date of this circular, subject to submission of a copy of the identifications documents during every payment. Further, in the event of a beneficiary being discovered to have received funds on the basis of a photo ID which did not sport his/ her photograph, action would also be initiated against the Agent/ Sub Agent. Thereafter, in addition to this, the identification requirements for cash payment to beneficiary shall also include biometric identification of the beneficiary. This stipulation will ultimately be linked to UID when it is fully implemented.ii) A cap of US $ 2500 has been placed on individual remittances under the scheme. Amounts up to Rs.50,000 may be paid in cash. Any amount exceeding this limit shall be paid only by means of cheque/D.D. /P.O., etc., or credited directly to the beneficiary's bank account. However, in exceptional circumstances, where the beneficiary is a foreign tourist, higher amounts may be disbursed in cash. Only 30 remittances can be received by a single individual during a calendar year.4.5 Customer Identification Requirements – Transactions by Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) - Indicative GuidelinesPolitically exposed persons are individuals who are or have been entrusted with prominent public functions in a foreign country, e.g., Heads of States or of Governments, senior politicians, senior government/judicial/military officers, senior executives of state-owned corporations, important political party officials, etc. APs (Indian Agents) should gather sufficient information on any person/customer of this category intending to undertake a transaction and check all the information available on the person in the public domain. APs (Indian Agents) should verify the identity of the person and seek information about the source /s of wealth and source /s of funds before accepting the PEP as a customer. The decision to undertake a transaction with a PEP should be taken at a senior level which should be clearly spelt out in the Customer Acceptance Policy. APs (Indian Agents) should also subject such transactions to enhanced monitoring on an ongoing basis. The above norms may also be applied to transactions with the family members or close relatives of PEPs. The above norms may also be applied to customers who become PEPs subsequent to establishment of the business relationship. These instructions are also applicable to transactions where a PEP is the ultimate beneficial owner. Further, in regard to transactions in case of PEPs, it is reiterated that APs (Indian Agents) should have appropriate ongoing risk management procedures for identifying and applying enhanced CDD to PEPs, customers who are family members or close relatives of PEPs and transactions of which a PEP is the ultimate beneficial owner.4.6 Monitoring of TransactionsOngoing monitoring is an essential element of effective KYC procedures. APs (Indian Agents) can effectively control and reduce their risk only if they have an understanding of the normal and reasonable receipt of remittances of the beneficiary so that they have the means of identifying receipts that fall outside the regular pattern of activity. However, the extent of monitoring will depend on the risk sensitivity of the remittance. APs (Indian Agents) should pay special attention to all complex, unusually large receipts and all unusual patterns which have no apparent economic or visible lawful purpose. APs (Indian Agents) may prescribe threshold limits for a particular category of receipts and pay particular attention to the receipts which exceed these limits. High-risk receipts have to be subjected to intense monitoring.Every AP (Indian Agent) should set key indicators for such receipts, taking note of the background of the customer, such as the country of origin, sources of funds, the type of transactions involved and other risk factors. APs (Indian Agents) should put in place a system of periodical review of risk categorization of customers and the need for applying enhanced due diligence measures. Such review of risk categorisation of customers should be carried out periodically.APs (Indian Agents) should exercise ongoing due diligence with respect to the business relationship with every client and closely examine the transactions in order to ensure that they are consistent with their knowledge of the client, his business and risk profile and where necessary, the source of funds [In view of Government of India Notification dated June 16, 2010 -Rule 9, sub-rule (1B)]APs (Indian Agents) should examine the background and purpose of transactions with persons (including legal persons and other financial institutions) from jurisdictions included in the FATF Statements and countries that do not or insufficiently apply the FATF Recommendations. Further, if the transactions have no apparent economic or visible lawful purpose, the background and purpose of such transactions should, as far as possible, be examined and written findings together with all the documents should be retained and made available to the Reserve Bank/ other relevant authorities, on request.4.7 Attempted transactionsWhere the AP (Indian Agent) is unable to apply appropriate KYC measures due to non-furnishing of information and /or non-cooperation by the customer, the AP should not undertake the transaction. Under these circumstances, APs should make a suspicious transactions report to FIU-IND in relation to the customer, even if the transaction is not put through.4.8 Risk Managementa) The Board of Directors of the AP (Indian Agent) should ensure that an effective KYC programme is put in place by establishing appropriate procedures and ensuring effective implementation. It should cover proper management oversight, systems and controls, segregation of duties, training and other related matters. Responsibility should be explicitly allocated within the AP (Indian Agent) for ensuring that the APs’ policies and procedures are implemented effectively. APs (Indian Agents) should, in consultation with their Boards, devise procedures for creating risk profiles of their existing and new customers and apply various anti money laundering measures keeping in view the risks involved in a transaction.b) APs’ (Indian Agents) internal audit and compliance functions have an important role in evaluating and ensuring adherence to the KYC policies and procedures. As a general rule, the compliance function should provide an independent evaluation of the AP’s (Indian Agent’s) own policies and procedures, including legal and regulatory requirements. APs (Indian Agents) should ensure that their audit machinery is staffed adequately with individuals who are well-versed in such policies and procedures. The concurrent auditors should check all cross border inward remittance transactions under MTSS to verify that they have been undertaken in compliance with the anti-money laundering guidelines and have been reported whenever required to the concerned authorities. Compliance on the lapses, if any, recorded by the concurrent auditors should be put up to the Board. A certificate from the Statutory Auditors on the compliance with KYC / AML / CFT guidelines should be obtained at the time of preparation of the Annual Report and kept on record.4.9 Introduction of New TechnologiesAPs (Indian Agents) should pay special attention to any money laundering threats that may arise from new or developing technologies including transactions through internet that might favour anonymity and take measures, to prevent their use for money laundering purposes and financing of terrorism activities.4.10 Combating Financing of Terrorisma)In terms of PML Rules, suspicious transaction should include inter alia transactions which give rise to a reasonable ground of suspicion that these may involve the proceeds of an offence mentioned in the Schedule to the PMLA, regardless of the value involved. APs (Indian Agents) should, therefore, develop suitable mechanism through appropriate policy framework for enhanced monitoring of transactions suspected of having terrorist links and swift identification of the transactions and making suitable reports to the FIU-IND on priority.b) APs (Indian Agents) are advised to take into account risks arising from the deficiencies in AML/CFT regime of certain jurisdictions, viz., Iran, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Bolivia, Cuba, Ethiopia, Kenya, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey and Nigeria, as identified in FATF Statement (www.fatf-gafi.org) issued from time to time, while dealing with individuals from these jurisdictions. In addition to FATF Statements circulated by the Reserve Bank of India from time to time, (latest as on February 14, 2013, circulated vide the A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 71 dated January 10, 2013), APs (Indian Agents) should also consider using publicly available information for identifying countries, which do not or insufficiently apply the FATF Recommendations. All APs (Indian Agents) are accordingly advised to take into account risks arising from the deficiencies in AML/CFT regime of these countries, while entering into business relationships and transactions with persons (including legal persons and other financial institutions) from or in these countries/ jurisdictions and give special attention to these cases.4.11 Principal Officera) APs (Indian Agents) should appoint a senior management officer to be designated as Principal Officer. Principal Officer shall be located at the head/corporate office of the AP and shall be responsible for monitoring and reporting of all transactions and sharing of information as required under the law. The role and responsibilities of the Principal Officer should include overseeing and ensuring overall compliance with regulatory guidelines on KYC/ AML/ CFT issued from time to time and obligations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, as amended by Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2009, rules and regulations made there under, as amended from time to time.The Principal Officer should also be responsible for developing appropriate compliance management arrangements across the full range of AML/CFT areas (e.g. CDD, record keeping, etc.). He will maintain close liaison with enforcement agencies, APs (Indian Agents) and any other institution which are involved in the fight against money laundering and combating financing of terrorism. To enable the Principal Officer to discharge his responsibilities, it is advised that the Principal Officer and other appropriate staff should have timely access to customer identification data and other CDD information, transaction records and other relevant information. Further, APs (Indian Agents) should ensure that the Principal Officer is able to act independently and report directly to the senior management or to the Board of Directors.b) The Principal Officer will be responsible for timely submission of CTR and STR to the FIU-IND.4.12 Maintenance of records of transactions/Information to be preserved/ Maintenance and preservation of records/ Cash and Suspicious Transactions Reporting to Financial Intelligence Unit- India (FIU-IND)Section 12 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, as amended by Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2009, casts certain obligations on the APs (Indian Agents) in regard to preservation and reporting of transaction information. APs (Indian Agents) are, therefore, advised to go through the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, (PMLA), 2002, as amended by Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2009 and the Rules notified there under and take all steps considered necessary to ensure compliance with the requirements of Section 12 of the Act ibid.(i) Maintenance of records of transactionsAPs (Indian Agents) should introduce a system of maintaining proper record of transactions prescribed under Rule 3, as mentioned below:all cash transactions of the value of more than Rupees ten lakh or its equivalent in foreign currency;all series of cash transactions integrally connected to each other which have been valued below Rupees ten lakh or its equivalent in foreign currency where such series of transactions have taken place within a month and the aggregate value of such transactions exceeds Rupees ten lakh;all transactions involving receipts by non-profit organisations of value more than Rupees ten lakh or its equivalent in foreign currency [In view of Government of India Notification dated November 12, 2009 - Rule 3, sub-rule (1) clause (BA) of PML Rules];all cash transactions where forged or counterfeit currency notes or bank notes have been used as genuine and where any forgery of a valuable security or a document has taken place facilitating the transaction; andAll suspicious transactions whether or not made in cash and by way of as mentioned in the Rules.(ii) Information to be preservedAPs (Indian Agents) are required to maintain all necessary information in respect of transactions referred to in Rule 3 to permit reconstruction of individual transactions including the following information:the nature of the transaction;the amount of the transaction and the currency in which it was denominated;the date on which the transaction was conducted; andthe parties to the transaction.(iii) Maintenance and Preservation of Recordsa) APs (Indian Agents) are required to maintain the records containing information of all transactions including the records of transactions detailed in Rule 3 above. APs (Indian Agents) should take appropriate steps to evolve a system for proper maintenance and preservation of transaction information in a manner that allows data to be retrieved easily and quickly whenever required or when requested by the competent authorities. Further, APs (Indian Agents) should maintain for at least ten years from the date of transaction between the AP and the client, all necessary records of transactions, both with residents and non-residents, which will permit reconstruction of individual transactions (including the amounts and types of currency involved, if any) so as to provide, if necessary, evidence for prosecution of persons involved in criminal activity.b) APs (Indian Agents) should ensure that records pertaining to the identification of the customer and his address (e.g. copies of documents like passport, driving license, PAN card, voter identity card issued by the Election Commission, utility bills, etc.) obtained while undertaking the transaction, are properly preserved for at least ten years from the date of cessation of the business relationship. The identification records and transaction data should be made available to the competent authorities upon request.c) In paragraph 4.6 of this Circular, APs (Indian Agents) have been advised to pay special attention to all complex, unusual large transactions and all unusual patterns of transactions, which have no apparent economic or visible lawful purpose. It is further clarified that the background including all documents/office records / memoranda pertaining to such transactions and purpose thereof should, as far as possible, be examined and the findings at branch as well as Principal Officer’s level should be properly recorded. Such records and related documents should be made available to help auditors in their day-to-day work relating to scrutiny of transactions and also to Reserve Bank/other relevant authorities. These records are required to be preserved for ten years as is required under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, (PMLA), 2002, as amended by Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2009 and Prevention of Money-Laundering (Maintenance of Records of the Nature and Value of Transactions, the Procedure and Manner of Maintaining and Time for Furnishing Information and Verification and Maintenance of Records of the Identity of the Clients of the Banking Companies, Financial Institutions and Intermediaries) Rules, 2005, as amended from time to time.(iv) Reporting to Financial Intelligence Unit – Indiaa) In terms of the PML rules, APs (Indian Agents) are required to report information relating to cash and suspicious transactions to the Director, Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) in respect of transactions referred to in Rule 3 at the following address:The Director,Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND),6th Floor, Hotel Samrat,Chanakyapuri, New Delhi-110021.Website - http://fiuindia.gov.in/b) APs (Indian Agents) should carefully go through all the reporting formats. There are altogether four reporting formats, as detailed in SECTION-III, viz. i) Cash Transactions Report (CTR); ii) Electronic File Structure-CTR; iii) Suspicious Transactions Report (STR); and iv) Electronic File Structure-STR. The reporting formats contain detailed guidelines on the compilation and manner/procedure of submission of the reports to FIU-IND. It would be necessary for APs (Indian Agents) to initiate urgent steps to ensure electronic filing of all types of reports to FIU-IND. The related hardware and technical requirement for preparing reports in an electronic format, the related data files and data structures thereof are furnished in the instructions part of the formats concerned.c) In terms of instructions contained in paragraph 4.3(b) of this Circular, APs (Indian Agents) are required to prepare a profile for each customer based on risk categorisation. Further, vide paragraph 4.6, the need for periodical review of risk categorisation has been emphasized. It is, therefore, reiterated that APs (Indian Agents), as a part of transaction monitoring mechanism, are required to put in place an appropriate software application to throw alerts when the transactions are inconsistent with risk categorization and updated profile of customers. It is needless to add that a robust software throwing alerts is essential for effective identification and reporting of suspicious transactions.4.13 Cash and Suspicious Transaction ReportsA) Cash Transaction Report (CTR)While detailed instructions for filing all types of reports are given in the instructions part of the related formats, APs (Indian Agents) should scrupulously adhere to the following:i) The Cash Transaction Report (CTR) for each month should be submitted to the FIU‑IND by 15th of the succeeding month. Cash transaction reporting by branches to their controlling offices should, therefore, invariably be submitted on a monthly basis and APs (Indian Agents) should ensure to submit CTR for every month to FIU-IND within the prescribed time schedule.ii) While filing CTR, details of individual transactions below Rs.50,000 need not be furnished.iii) CTR should contain only the transactions carried out by the AP on behalf of their customers excluding transactions between the internal accounts of the APiv) A cash transaction report for the AP as a whole should be compiled by the Principal Officer of the AP every month in physical form as per the format specified. The report should be signed by the Principal Officer and submitted to the FIU-IND.v) In case of Cash Transaction Reports (CTR) compiled centrally by APs (Indian Agents) for the branches at their central data centre level, APs (Indian Agents) may generate centralised Cash Transaction Reports (CTR) in respect of branches under central computerized environment at one point for onward transmission to FIU-IND, provided:The CTR is generated in the format prescribed by Reserve Bank in Para 4.12(iv)(b) of this Circular.A copy of the monthly CTR submitted on its behalf to the FIU-IND is available at the branch concerned for production to auditors/inspectors, when asked for.The instruction on ‘Maintenance of records of transactions’, ‘Information to be preserved’ and ‘Maintenance and Preservation of records’ as contained above in this circular at Para 4.12 (i), (ii) and (iii) respectively are scrupulously followed by the branch.However, in respect of branches not under central computerized environment, the monthly CTR should be compiled and forwarded by the branch to the Principal Officer for onward transmission to the FIU-IND.B) Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR)i) While determining suspicious transactions, APs (Indian Agents) should be guided by definition of suspicious transaction contained in PML Rules, as amended from time to time.ii) It is likely that in some cases, transactions are abandoned/ aborted by customers on being asked to give some details or to provide documents. It is clarified that APs (Indian Agents) should report all such attempted transactions in STRs, even if not completed by customers, irrespective of the amount of the transaction.iii) APs (Indian Agents) should make STRs if they have reasonable ground to believe that the transaction, including an attempted transaction, involves proceeds of crime generally irrespective of the amount of transaction and/or the threshold limit envisaged for predicate offences in part B of Schedule of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, (PMLA), 2002, as amended by Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2009.iv) The Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) should be furnished within 7 days of arriving at a conclusion that any transaction, including an attempted transaction, whether cash or non-cash, or a series of transactions integrally connected are of suspicious nature. The Principal Officer should record his reasons for treating any transaction or a series of transactions as suspicious. It should be ensured that there is no undue delay in arriving at such a conclusion once a suspicious transaction report is received from a branch or any other office. Such report should be made available to the competent authorities on request.v) In the context of creating KYC/ AML awareness among the staff and for generating alerts for suspicious transactions, APs (Indian Agents) may consider the following indicative list of suspicious activities.Some possible suspicious activity indicators are given below:Customer is reluctant to provide details / documents on frivolous grounds.The transaction is undertaken by one or more intermediaries to protect the identity of the beneficiary or hide their involvement.Large amount of remittances.Size and frequency of transactions is high considering the normal business of the customer.The above list is only indicative and not exhaustive.vi) APs (Indian Agents) should not put any restrictions on payment to beneficiaries where an STR has been made. Moreover, it should be ensured that employees of APs shall keep the fact of furnishing such information as strictly confidential and there is no tipping off to the customer at any level.4.14 Customer Education/Employees’ Training/Employees’ Hiringa) Customer EducationImplementation of KYC procedures requires APs (Indian Agents) to demand certain information from customers which may be of personal nature or which has hitherto never been called for. This can sometimes lead to a lot of questioning by the customer as to the motive and purpose of collecting such information. There is, therefore, a need for APs (Indian Agents) to prepare specific literature/ pamphlets, etc., so as to educate the customer of the objectives of the KYC programme. The front desk staff needs to be specially trained to handle such situations while dealing with customers.b) Employees’ TrainingAPs (Indian Agents) must have an ongoing employee training programme so that the members of the staff are adequately trained to be aware of the policies and procedures relating to prevention of money laundering, provisions of the PMLA and the need to monitor all transactions to ensure that no suspicious activity is being undertaken under the guise of remittances. Training requirements should have different focuses for frontline staff, compliance staff and staff dealing with new customers. It is crucial that all those concerned fully understand the rationale behind the KYC policies and implement them consistently. The steps to be taken when the staff come across any suspicious transactions (such as asking questions about the source of funds, checking the identification documents carefully, reporting immediately to the Principal Officer, etc.) should be carefully formulated by the APs (Indian Agents) and suitable procedure laid down. The APs (Indian Agents) should have an ongoing training programme for consistent implementation of the AML measures.c) Hiring of EmployeesIt may be appreciated that KYC norms/AML standards/CFT measures have been prescribed to ensure that criminals are not allowed to misuse the system of money transfer under MTSS. It would, therefore, be necessary that adequate screening mechanism is put in place by APs (Indian Agents) as an integral part of their recruitment/hiring process of personnel to ensure high standards.Note:- (i) The Government of India had constituted a National Money Laundering / Financing of Terror Risk Assessment Committee to assess money laundering and terror financing risks, a national AML/CFT strategy and institutional framework for AML/CFT in India. Assessment of risk of Money Laundering /Financing of Terrorism helps both the competent authorities and the regulated entities in taking necessary steps for combating ML / FT adopting a risk-based approach. This helps in judicious and efficient allocation of resources and makes the AML / CFT regime more robust. The Committee has made recommendations regarding adoption of a risk-based approach, assessment of risk and putting in place a system which would use that assessment to take steps to effectively counter ML / FT. The recommendations of the Committee have since been accepted by the Government of India and need to be implemented. Accordingly, APs (Indian Agents) should take steps to identify and assess their ML/TF risk for customers, countries and geographical areas as also for products/ services/ transactions/delivery channels, in addition to what has been prescribed in the paragraph 4 above. APs (Indian Agents) should have policies, controls and procedures, duly approved by their boards, in place to effectively manage and mitigate their risk adopting a risk-based approach as discussed above. As a corollary, APs (Indian Agents) would be required to adopt enhanced measures for products, services and customers with a medium or high risk rating. APs (Indian Agents) may design risk parameters according to their activities for risk based transaction monitoring, which will help them in their own risk assessment.(ii) The above KYC/ AML/ CFT Guidelines would also be applicable mutatis mutandis to all Sub Agents of the Indian Agents under MTSS and it will be the sole responsibility of the APs (Indian Agents) to ensure that their Sub Agents also adhere to these guidelines.Section -IICustomer Identification Procedure Features to be verified and documents that may be obtained from customersFeaturesDocuments- Legal name and any other names used(i) Passport (ii) PAN card (iii) Voter’s Identity Card (iv) Driving licence (v) Identity card (subject to the AP’s satisfaction) (vi) Letter from a recognized public authority or public servant verifying the identity and residence of the customer to the satisfaction of the AP(Indian Agent)- Correct permanent address(i) Telephone bill (ii) Bank account statement (iii) Letter from any recognized public authority (iv) Electricity bill (v) Ration card (vi) Letter from employer (subject to satisfaction of the AP).(any one of the documents, which provides customer information to the satisfaction of the AP (Indian Agent) will suffice).Note :- If the address on the document submitted for identity proof by the prospective customer is same as that declared by him/her, the document may be accepted as a valid proof of both identity and address. If the address indicated on the document submitted for identity proof differs from the current address declared by the customer, a separate proof of address should be obtained.Section-IIIList of various reports and their formatsCash Transaction Report (CTR)Electronic File Structure- CTRSuspicious Transaction Report (STR)Electronic File Structure-STRNote: FIU-IND have now advised that the 'go-live' date is October 20, 2012 and that Authorised Persons, who are Indian agents under MTSS may discontinue submission of reports in CD format after October 20, 2012, using only FINnet gateway for uploading of reports in the new XML reporting format. Any report in CD format received after October 20, 2012 will not be treated as a valid submission by FIU-IND.Annex-IIIFormat for Sub Agents of Indian Agents of MTSS1.Name of the Sub Agent2.Sub Agent Category (AD Cat-I bank/ AD Cat-II/ Other Scheduled Commercial Bank/ Full Fledged Money Changer/ Department of Posts/ Registered NBFC/ Others)3.Address of the registered/corporate/administrative office with telephone number/s, Fax number/s and e-mail id/s.4.Registered with5.Registration Number6.Details of Registration (papers to be attached as at Annex-IIIa)7.PAN Number (copy as at Annex-IIIa)8.Name/s of Banker/s and Bank Account Number/s (enclosures as at Annex-IIIa)9.Details (Name, Nationality, Residential address, Controlling interest in any other company, PAN Number) of each promoter with more than 10% equity holding10.Paid up capital in Rs. and Number of shares11.Accounts certified by which Chartered Accountant? Details (Enclosures as at Annex-IIIa)12.Whether prosecuted/ convicted for criminal/ economic offence? If yes, particulars thereof (Enclosures as at Annex-IIIa)13.Whether the Sub Agent is solvent as on date14.Details (Name, Designation, Nationality, Residential address, PAN No., Name/s of other company/ies in which the person has held any post, Details of equity shareholding in the company, if any) of Chairman/Managing Director/Director/Chief Executive Officer (Details as at Annex-IIIa)Note: With reference to point 9, ownership of the Sub Agent should be detailed up to the last layer of equity holding ending in mentioning the name of the individual/ entity that owns beneficial interest in the company.Date:Place:Signature of Chartered AccountantSignature of Managing DirectorAnnex-IIIa : List of Certified copies of Documents to be submittedCertificate of IncorporationMemorandum (up-to-date) and Articles of AssociationBoard resolution for conducting money transfer activities, submission of application and its contents including authorization of an official to make the application.Details of associates, group companies, etc.PAN Card/s of the Director/s.Bank Account details and sealed confidential reports from banks.A certificate from Chartered Accountant certifying Net Owned FundsBalance Sheet and P&L A/c statement for the last three years.Business plan for the next three years.Conduct certificate from the local police authorities.Declaration regarding past criminal cases, cases initiated/ pending against the company or its Directors by any law enforcing agencies.Photographs of the Directors and key persons.Information about the management.Shop and establishment certificate/ other municipal certificate.Annex-IVStatement showing details of quantum of remittances received through Money Transfer Service Scheme during the quarter ended __________________Name of the Indian Agent ______________________________________Name of the Overseas PrincipalTotal quantum of remittances received in US $INR equivalentNote: This statement is required to be submitted to the Regional Office concerned of the Foreign Exchange Department of the Reserve Bank and Foreign Exchange Department, Forex Markets Division, Central Office, Amar Building, Fort, Mumbai-400001 within 15 days from the close of the quarter to which it relates.Annex-VStatement of Collateral kept by Indian AgentsName of the Indian Agent __________________________Name of the Overseas PrincipalTotal quantum of remittances received during the past 6 months in US $Amount of collateral held in US $Collateral kept in various forms (Foreign Currency Deposit/ Bank Guarantee)Last review of adequacy of collateral along with observationsNote: This statement as at the end of June and December every year is required to be submitted to the Regional Office concerned of the Foreign Exchange Department of the Reserve Bank and Foreign Exchange Department, Forex Markets Division, Central Office, Amar Building, Fort, Mumbai-400001 within 15 days from the close of the half year to