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 Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency.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

H T C ADMINISTRATION & TRUST COMPANY N.V.

Company Name H T C ADMINISTRATION & TRUST COMPANY N.V.
Date of Registration 11th October 1999
Company Objective A. THE ACTING AS TRUSTEE, EXECUTOR AND ADMINISTRATOR;
B. ACTION AND TRUST OFFICE AND THE PARTICIPATING IN AND
DRIVING, manage and administer OTHER COMPANIES
COMPANIES AND LEGAL PERSONS AT HOME AND ABROAD;
- SIGHTING OF INTERESTS OF SHAREHOLDERS, OR BOND
OTHER CREDITORS IN COMPANIES OR GROUPS THEREOF;
- SIGHTING OF THE INTERESTS OF THIRD PARTIES;
- THE REPRESENT YOU of- AND DEFEND THE INTERESTS OF
THIRD PARTIES, BOTH IN THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE EFFECT
- EXERCISING OF MANAGEMENT AND SUPERVISORY FUNCTIONS IN OTHER
COMPANIES AND LEGAL PERSONS, REGARDLESS OF THE OBJECTIVES AD. THE GRANTING OF MEDIATION IN THE CREATION, EXTENSION,
AMENDMENT OF COMPANIES AND LEGAL
COMPANIES CARRIED OUT BY THIRD PARTIES IN INDOOR AND ABROAD;
- THE GRANTING OF MEDIATION IN THE ESTABLISHMENT AND AMENDING AN ASSOCIATION
OF ARUBA EXEMPT COMPANIES AND THE ACTING AS
LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE AND DIRECTOR of- AND EXERCISING
OTHER MANAGEMENT AND SUPERVISORY FUNCTIONS OF ARUBA
EXEMPT COMPANIES ;
- ACTION AND ADMINISTRATIVE TRICE, testamentary executrix
administrator, caretaker OR TRUSTEE;
D. THE LOANS TO DETECT AND RETAIN AS TRUSTEE OF THE
RIGHTS AND INTERESTS OF CREDITORS AND IF NECESSARY, TO GIVE HER NAME
PROVISION OF GUARANTEES FOR THE BENEFIT OF THOSE CREDITORS AND
POSSESSION TAKING IN REAL ESTATE;
- DEFEND THE FINANCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE
INTERESTS AT HOME AND ABROAD;
- GIVING LEGAL, ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL ADVICE;
- THE ON BEHALF OF THIRD PARTIES ON ITS NAME AND TAKING movable
REAL ESTATE AND THEIR administration;
- THE Receive-, COURANT HOUDEN-, INVESTEREN-, SPAREN- AND DEPOT
HOLDING OF THIRD PARTY FUNDS;
E. IT AS OFFICE WORK AND AS SUCH ISSUE CERTIFICATES BEARER OR NAME ON AT ITS REGISTERED SHARES AND BONDS IN COMPANIES AND LEGAL PERSONS, THE COLLECT OF THEM TO PAY DIVIDENDS AND INTEREST AND THE PAYMENT THEREOF TO THE CERTIFICATE HOLDERS, SUPPLY AUDITOR OF WORK; PERFORM DUTIES AND ACCOUNTING TREATMENT OF TAX MATTERS; GIVING ADVICE IN TAX MATTERS AND MANAGING AND OR ANY KIND OF PROPERTY ALSO administer.
Country
aruba
Financial Secrecy Index [more info] 68
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