Offshore A-Z is a digital repository of companies operating across major tax havens. Offshore A-Z exploits the inscrutability of such companies to speculate on their possible nature and intent. Each company listed on here is real, but the information surrounding these consist of both actual records, obtained by dmstfctn, and speculative images and mission statements, generated by algorithms.

Tax havens, or secrecy jurisdictions, employ laws and corporate regulations different from those of most jurisdictions, using secrecy as a prime tool. Furthermore, the agents operating offshore on behalf of clients elsewhere have been observed by dmstfctn to willfully introduce mistakes in the records held on the companies they help forming. (Offshore Investigation Vehicle)

When offshore companies are but a bundle of papers held in private storages, these practices contribute to a number of possible configurations of any given offshore company, whose records are at once factually correct and conveniently flawed.

Offshore A-Z plays with the idea that truth is not one nor static, and that it does not need to be upheld equally at all times or in all fora.

Obtaining the data

The data contained within Offshore A-Z comes from a number of sources. Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency. Employing data scraping techniques, dmstfctn extracted records on hundreds of thousands of companies appearing in a number of such registrars.

Yielding varying amounts of information, and naturally full of gaps - sometimes full company details and descriptions, sometimes little more than a name - the records were cross referenced with data from the ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks as well as Financial Secrecy Index scores from the Tax Justice Network, and compiled into a single searchable database.

Training the algorithms

Algorithms were then trained to fill in the gaps in information. Using keywords from the company’s records as a trigger, the algorithms associate images with each nondescript company and complete missing fields by guessing possible incorporation dates or by generating corporate mission statement via a simple neural network. The coherency and accuracy of the neural network is directly undermined by the opaque source material, or incomplete input records. Finally, companies previously named in the Offshore Leaks ( for example) are hyperlinked to the relevant entry on the ICIJ database, allowing user to investigate further.

Compiling the template

The resulting information is autonomously built into a Web 2.0 page, employing a visual grammar similar to that used by existing registrars of companies. However, under intense scrutiny, the template mealts away revealing warm hues and floating forms.

This cycle of actions is repeated for each unreleased company found in the database and publicly announced by a Twitter bot.

Zooming in

Among the companies listed on the Offshore A-Z, a few appearing to be embedded in complex offshore vehicles were further investigated, resulting in three stories focusing on the funding behind Leave.EU, the corporate tax-avoidance of Barclays and the colonial origins of HSBC.

Offshore A-Z is a project by dmstfctn.

GALAXY ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTIONS N.V.

Company Name GALAXY ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTIONS N.V.
Date of Registration 17th June 1992
Company Objective 1.     the organize, promote, give and do give performances of all kinds, such as eg without its festivals limited to, concerts, seminars, conferences and workshops.

2.     the observing the interests of artists, guiding artists at the conclusion of contracts and to represent their interests, all in the broadest sense of the word.

3.     the establishment and operation of institutes and other institutions to give and provide advice, instruction, courses and training in marketing and public relations and area.

4.     the (do) exploit and (do) lead adviesbureaux (consultancy offices) and advice centers for commercial and non-commercial organizations.

5.     the promote the transfer of technical and commercial know-how (knowledge), the vetting an organization and assist in the establishment and herstrukturering of both commercial and non-commercial organizations or parts thereof.

6.     the provision of advice in the field of management development.

7.     the analyze market development.

8.     the provision of services to third parties relating to the care and organization of all that both the written and the electronic -media related.

9.     the promoting production development, service and marketing of products on the market, services and products of any kind, this third party both rekeninhn as for their own account.

10 .     the participate in other companies and businesses for any purpose.

11.     the perform all actions related to the above, all in the broadest sense.
Country
aruba
Financial Secrecy Index [more info] 68
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