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 Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency.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.

ROLY SINT JAGO MANAGEMENT N.V.

Company Name ROLY SINT JAGO MANAGEMENT N.V.
Date of Registration 20th September 1998
Company Objective 1.     the ACT AS ADVISOR IN SOCIAL, CULTURAL, LEGAL, ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE REGION FOR THE private and / or public sector;

2     The ACT AS PROJECT PLANNERS IN CONNECTION WITH THE FOREGOING.;

3     The of- REPRESENT AND DEFEND OF MINORITY INTERESTS, BOTH IN THE MOST EXTENSIVE AS MEANING IN PARTICULAR:.
A.     The MANAGING, CONTROLLING AND / OR administer PROPERTY OF ANY KIND THE ACTING AS administrator, TRUSTEE OR executrix-testamentary THE ACTING AS CURATRICE ON UNATTENDED iNHERITANCES THE ACTING AS AGENT, THE GIVING OF LEGAL ADVICE AND THOSE ON THE INVESTMENT OF FUNDS THE USE OF DIRECTORS, ADMINISTRATION of- AND MONITORING HELD ON OTHER PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANIES AND ARUBA EXEMPT COMPANY, REGARDLESS OF THE TARGET DEFINITION OF COMPANIES THAT, REGARDLESS OF THE PURPOSE OF THAT DEFINITION OF COMPANIES AND OTHER COMPANIES MANAGEMENT;
B     The OBSERVING THE INTERESTS OF SHAREHOLDERS, BOND OR OTHER CREDITORS IN LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANIES AND ARUBA EXEMPT COMPANIES OR GROUPS THEREOF;
C     The GRANTING OF MEDIATION IN THE ESTABLISHMENT INCLUDES THE FUNCTIONING AS FOUNDER OF LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANIES, ARUBA EXEMPT COMPANIES AND OTHER COMPANIES AND AMENDMENT OF THE ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION AND THE ACTION AS LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE OF ARUBA EXEMPT COMPANIES AND IF LIQUIDATRICE ;

4     The TAKE INTO STORAGE OF GOODS TO PAY.;

5     The AS OFFICE WORK AND AS SUCH ISSUE OF CERTIFICATES OR BEARER OF NAME BY ITS REGISTERED SHARES AND BONDS, THE COLLECT OF THEM TO PAY DIVIDENDS AND INTEREST AND PAYMENTS TO A CERTIFICAALHOUDERS.;

6     The PROVIDE ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE IN THE FIELD OF HOUSING, PUBLIC HOUSING AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT.;

7     The mediate THE BUYING AND SELLING OF SHARES, remittances, BONDS AND OTHERWISE adviser and broker in INVESTMENTS.;

8.     The PARTICIPATE IN OTHER COMPANIES, COMPANIES AND LEGAL OR THEY HAVE FURTHER INTEREST.
Country
aruba
Financial Secrecy Index [more info] 68
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