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 Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency.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

SISTER & CO.

Company Name SISTER & CO.
Date of Registration 24th May 1999
Company Objective 1. THE PROVISION OF SERVICES AND GIVING AND CARE OF OPINIONS ON LESSONS, COURSES AND TRAINING management, marketing, financial, economic-, TAX-technical, administrative, public relations and organizational BENEFIT FROM BELOW THE OTHER OFFICES, AND BANKING BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY, INCLUDING THE HOTEL INDUSTRY, HOSPITALS, THE GOVERNMENT, EDUCATION ORPHANS AND ALL OTHER BRANCHES OF BUSINESS, social, cULTURAL AND OTHER NON-COMMERCIAL ORGANISATIONS.
2. THE EXERCISE OF A TRADE (TRADING) COMPANY IN ALL TYPES OF GOODS AND THE OTHER TO THE FULLEST SENSE.
3. USE OF MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OVER AND THE (DO) OPERATING COMPANIES AND OTHER COMPANIES WHATEVER THEIR PURPOSE;
4. THE (DO) OPERATE (DO) LEADING ADVIESBUREAUX (CONSULTANCY OFFICE) AND ADVISORY CENTRES FOR COMMERCIAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL ORGANISATIONS.
5. PROMOTING TECHNICAL AND COMMERCIAL TRANSFER OF KNOW-HOW (KNOWLEDGE), THE analytical report ORGANISATIONS AND HELPFUL TO BE UP AND HTE HERSTRUKTURERING BOTH COMMERCIAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL ORGANISATIONS OR PARTS THEREOF.
6. GIVING ADVICE IN MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT.
7. THE ANALYSIS OF MARKET TRENDS.
8. ORGANIZING, DO GIVE THE TRANSMISSION OF EVENTS OF ALL KINDS SUCH AS, BUT NOT LIMITED TO SEMI AIRS, CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS WITH EDUCATIONAL-ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTER.
9. THE PROMOTION OF PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT, SERVICES AND MARKETING OF PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND PRODUCTS OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, THAT BOTH ON BEHALF OF THIRD PARTIES ON THEIR OWN ACCOUNT.
10. SELECTING HIGHER AND TOP FRAME IN MANAGMENT.
11. SIGHTING OF MINORITY INTERESTS, THE THIRD PARTY GUIDE AND REPRESENT TO THE EXIT OF CONTACTS AND DEFEND THEIR BELANGE, ALL IN THE WIDEST SENSE OF THE WORD.
12. THE ACTING AS HOLDING COMPANY AND PARTICIPATE IN FURTHER COMPANIES AND COMPANIES IN ANY PURPOSE.
13. THE PROVISION OF ALL TRADE HOLD, WITH THE ABOVE IN CONNECTION, ALL TO THE FULLEST SENSE.
Country
aruba
Financial Secrecy Index [more info] 68
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