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 Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency.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

BEST ADVICE CONSULTANCY

Company Name BEST ADVICE CONSULTANCY
Date of Registration 5th June 2000
Company Objective 1.The PROVISION OF SERVICES AND CARE OF OPINIONS, TEACH,
COURSES AND TRAINING managerial, financial-, economic-,
ADMINISRATIEF-, public relations, ORGANIZATION AND MARKETING AREA;
2. THE (DO OPERATE (DO) LEADING CONSULTING FIRM (CONSULTANCY
OFFICE) AND ADVICE CENTRE FOR COMMERCIAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL
ORGANIZATIONS.
3. PROMOTING THE TRANSFER OF TECHNICAL AND COMMERCIAL
KNOW-HOW (KNOWLEDGE ) BY LIGHTS OF ORGANIZATIONS AND
HELPFUL ARE ON THE UP AND HERSTRUKTURERING BOTH
COMMERCIAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL ORGANISATIONS OR PORTIONS THEREOF
4 PROMOTING PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT,...
5 DESIGNING ADVERTISING TEXTS AND ADVERTISING SHOPPING;.
6 THE PROVISION OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO THIRD PARTIES ON THE CARE
AND ORGANIZATION OF MULTIMEDIA AND IT MATTERS RELATING TO MOVE
OTHER TEMPTATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS ON THE ELECTRONIC HIGHWAY
7 SIGHTING OF THE INTERESTS OF ARTISTS, THE.. aCCOMPANY OF
ARTISTS AT THE CONCLUSION OF CONTRACTS AND dEFEND THEIR
INTERESTS..
8 SURVEYING, EVALUATING AND COUNSELING IN RELATION TO ACQUISITION
OF REAL ESTATE AND INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL
COMPANIES
9. . THE MARKETING AND (DO) ISSUE, INCLUDING, EDITING, PRINTING
RECORD, DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF NEWSPAPERS,
MAGAZINES, BROCHURES, BOOKS, ADVERTISING, ADVERTISING
PRINT WORKS, OTHER PRINT WORKS, audio and video tapes, LASER AND
COMPUTER DISCS AND OTHER INFORMATION SUPPORTING ARTICLES.
10. GIVING AND DO PERFORMANCE OF ADVICE IN THE FIELD OF RESEARCH,
DEVELOPMENT, COACHING AND MANAGEMENT SUPPORT.
11. THE ANALYSIS OF MARKET TRENDS.
12. ORGANIZING, AND GIVE GIVE GIVE PERFORMANCES AS
PARTICULAR SEMI AIRS, CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS WITH educational-
ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTER.
13. TOGETHER WITH THE PARTICIPATING IN AND KEEPING MONITORING
OTHER COMPANIES;
14. THE SELECTIVE TO PARTICIPATE IN OTHER COMPANIES AND FIRMS
WHATEVER THEIR PURPOSE.
15. THE (DO) OFFERING SERVICES IN THE FIELD OF ARBIEDSBEMIDDELING
WITH INSERT AS EXECUTIVE SEARCHING FOR THE TARGETS
AS ABOVE.
Country
aruba
Financial Secrecy Index [more info] 68
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