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 Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency.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

R. HELLEBRAND STAMRECHT N.V.

Company Name R. HELLEBRAND STAMRECHT N.V.
Date of Registration 15th November 2000
Company Objective 1.     the closing Annuity agreements for AND DOING PERIODIC BENEFITS, INCLUDING PENSION BENEFITS TO NO MORE THAN TWO PERSONS OR THEIR SPOUSES AND THEIR relatives in a direct LOWER FALLING LINE AND THEIR HUSBANDS and relatives IN THE SECOND DEGREE in the collateral line and their spouses;

2.     the invest its funds in securities such as shares and other certificates of participation and bonds, as well as other interest-bearing debts under any name and in any form, THE LENDING OF FUNDS AND THE ISSUE OF DEBT SECURITIES FOR THAT PURPOSE AND LENDING OF FUNDS AND THE PROVISION OF SECURITY IN ANY WAY BOTH THE BENEFIT OF THE COMPANY AS THE BENEFIT OF OTHERS;

3.     the obtain:
i     opbrengsten arising from the disposal of the surrender of the right to use copyrights, patents, designs, secret process or recipes, trademarks and similar matters;
ii     royalties, including rent, related to movies or in respect of the use of industrial, commercial or scientific equipment, as well as with regard to the operation of a mine or quarry or any other natural resource and other immovable property;
iii     vergoedingEN for the provision of technical assistance;

4.      THE ACQUISITION, POSSESSION, DISPOSE, MANAGING AND DEVELOPMENT OF REAL ESTATE AND / OR ANY RIGHT OR INTEREST IN THE PROPERTY, AND PARTICIPATE IN ANY COMPANY OR COMPANY WITH SIMILAR OR ASSOCIATED OBJECTIVE;

5. HIRING, lease, mortgage or IN GENERAL OBJECTIONS OF PROPERTY AND ANY RIGHT IN OR INTEREST IN REAL ESTATE;

6. TRADE IN - INCLUDING DDE WHOLESALE, brokering and futures AND THE IMPORT AND EXPORT OF RAW MATERIALS, MINERALS, METALS, ORGANIC MATERIALS, SEMI ABRI Katen AND FINISHED PRODUCTS OF ANY KIND AND SUBJECT TO ANY NAME ALSO;

7. PARTICIPATING IN AND MANAGING COMPANIES AND COMPANIES;

E.E.A. WILL BE CARRIED OUT SO FAR THIS WORK OUT OF ARUBA AND ONLY FOR THE BENEFIT OF NON-RESIDENTS.
Country
aruba
Financial Secrecy Index [more info] 68
Previous Company Random Next Company