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 Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency.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

SMART PRO-MOTION/I LOVE ARUBA FM

Company Name SMART PRO-MOTION/I LOVE ARUBA FM
Date of Registration 7th August 2000
Company Objective 1. EXERCISING ANY ADVERTISING ADVISORY AND MARKETING AGENCY
2. DRIVING A GRAPHIC DESIGN OFFICE, INCLUDING THOSE PRINTING OF ALL KINDS OF ARTICLES AND MANUFACTURING billboards;
3. GIVING ADVICE IN THE FIELD OF MARKETING, PUBLIC RELATIONS, ADVERTISING MAKING, SALES AND MARKETING ON THE MARKET, MARKET RESEARCH, PLANNING AND MARKET MANAGEMENT;
4. THE PROVISION OF SERVICES AND TO PROVIDE FOR ANY ORGANIZATION, DISTRIBUTION, film production, FILM DIRECTOR, COMMUNICATION, ADVERTISING, ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION, FINE ARTS, creative-, graphics and AUDIOVISUAL DESIGN, ADVERTISING, PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT WRITING;
5. MAKING FILM, photography, VIDEO AND MUSIC PRODUCTIONS AND ALL KINDS OF AUDIO-VISUAL PRODUCTIONS;
6. THE DESIGN, PRODUCTION AND EXPLOIT OF PLASTIC CUSTOMIZED CARDS;
7. DEVELOPING AND EXPLOIT OF APPLICATION PROGRAMS;
8. BUYING, SELLING, RENT, RENT, MOUNTING AND DISPLAYING OF SOUND RECORDINGS, AUDIO-VISUAL, PROGRAMS, COMPLAINTS AND EVENTS OF ANY KIND;
9.HET ACT AS REPRESENTATIVE OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLICATIONS AND THE DESIGN, PUBLISHING, PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION OF NEWSPAPERS, weekly and monthly magazines, posters, brochures AND ASSOCIATED PRESS ARTICLES;
10.HET PROVIDE MARKET RESEARCH THIRD PARTY;
11.HET DESIGN, CARE AND SELLING ADS AND DRAFTING AND SUPERVISION OF PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGNS AND MANAGEMENT OF ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION BUDGETS FOR THIRD PARTIES;
12.HET ORGANIZING AND SUPERVISION OF FESTIVALS AND OTHER EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES;
13.HET AT YOUR PART BUILDING PENSION BENEFIT OF EMPLOYEES OR FORMER EMPLOYEES OF THE COMPANY AND / OR THEIR SURVIVORS.
14.HET EXPLOIT A radio station, INCLUDING THE CARE, PRODUCTION, ASSEMBLY AND BROADCASTING music programs, talk shows, advertising, announcement were AND ADVERTISING MESSAGES AND OTHER MESSAGES.
15. selling and / or renting mobile phones, as well as via a service number providing information and / or referral of the applicant's information to the desired service.
Country
aruba
Financial Secrecy Index [more info] 68
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