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 Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency.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

L, B & G SHIPPING A.V.V.

Company Name L, B & G SHIPPING A.V.V.
Date of Registration 9th January 2004
Company Objective 1A.THE RENDERING OF SERVICES TO SEA AND RIVER VESSELS, TO ACT AS
SHIPCHANDLER AND THE PROVISIONING OF SHIPS;
B.THE CHARTERING, FREIGHTING ADN DOADING OF OWN SHIPS, LEASED SHIPS AND/OR
SHIPS OF THIRD PARTIES;
C.TO ACT AS A MEDIATION OFFICE FOR THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF ENTERPRISES WITH
SIMILAR OBJECTS, IRRESPECTIVE OF TH LEAGAL FORM OF THESE ENTERPRISES
(CONSEQUENTLY, ALSO INCLUDING THE SOCALLED ONE-SHIP ENTERPRISES);
D.TO CONDUCT THE MANAGEMETN OF SIMILAR ENTERPRISES;
E.ANY AND ALL OTHER ACTIVITIES IN CONNECTION WITH SHIPPING AND AVIATION THAT
MAY BE CONDUCTIVE TO THE ABOVE, ALL THIS IN THE BROADEST SENSE OF THE WORD.
2.TO BUY, SELL, TRADE AND DEAL IN, STOCKS, BONDS AND SECURITIES OF EVERY
NATURE, INCLUDING PUTS, CALLS, STRADDLES AND OTHER OPTIONS, COVERED AND
UNCOVERED, OF EVERY KIND AND NATURE, AND COMMODITIES OF EVERY NATURE,
AND CONTRACTS FOR THE FUTURE DELIVERY OF COMMODITIES OF EVERY NATURE,
ON MARGIN OF OTHERWISE;
AND, IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, TO BORROW MONEY AND TO PLEDGE ANY AND ALL
STOCKS, BONDS, SECURITIES, COMMODITIES ADN CONTRACTS FOR THE FUTURE
DELIVERY THEREOF;
3.INVESTING ITS RESOURCES IN SECURITIES, AS AMONGST OTHERS SHARES AND
OTHER CERTIFICATES OF PARTICIPATION AND BONDS, AS ALSO IN OTHER INTEREST
BEARING CERTIFICATES OF INDEBTEDNESS UNDER WHATEVER NAME AND IN ANY
FORM WHATSOEVER, THE BORROWING OF MONIES AND THE ISSUING OF BONDS
THEREFORE, AS ALSO THE GRANTING IN ANY WAY OF SECURITIES AS WELL IN BEHALF
OF THE COMPANY ITSELF AS IN BEHALF OF THIRD PARTIES;
4. TO ACT AS FINANCING COMPANY AND TO MEDIATE IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE
FINANCING OF ALL KINDS OF TRANSACTIONS. THE CORPORATION CAN EXCLUSIVELY
PERFORM THESE ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF ITS NORMAL BUSINESS
OPERATIONS, NOT BEING THE ACTING TO A CONSIDERABLE EXTENT AS A FINANCE
COMPANY, IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT CANNOT BE DEEMED A CREDIT INSTITUTION AS
MEANT IN THE STATE ORDINANCE SUPERVISION CREDIT SYSTEM. FURTHERMORE, IT IS
EXPLICITLY PROHIBITED FROM ATTRACTING MONEY FROM THE PUBLIC AND/OR TO
LEND OUT MONEY TO THE PUBLIC.
5. THE ACQUIRING OF:
(I) PROCEEDS RESULTING FORM THE ALIENATION OR THE WAIVING OF THE RIGHT OF
USING COPY RIGHTS, PATENTS, PATERNS, SECRET PROCESSES OR FORMULAS,
TRADE MARKS AND SIMILAR MATTERS;
(II) ROYALTIES, INCULUDING RENTALS WITH REGARD TO FILMS OR IN RESPECT OF
THE USE OF INDUSTRIAL COMMERICIAL OR SCIENTIFIC INSTALLATIONS AS WELL AS
WITH REGARD TO THE OPERATION OF A MINE OR QUARRY OR ANY OTHER NATURAL
RESOURCE AND OTHER IMMOVABLE GOODS;
(III) REMUNERATION FOR RENDERING OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.
6. THE ACQUIRING, POSSESSING, ALIENATING, MANAGING AND DEVELOPING OF
IMMOVABLE GOODS AND OR ANY RICHT OR INTEREST IN IMMOVABLE GOODS, AND THE
PARTICIPATION IN ANY OTHER ENTERPRISE OR CORPORATION WITH SIMILAR
PURPOSES OR RELATED PURPOSES.
7.THE LETTING, LEASING, THE MORTGAGING OR IN GENERAL BURDENING OF IMMOVABLE
GOODS AND OR ANY RICHT IN OR INTEREST IN IMMOVABLE GOODS.
8. THE TRADING IN - INCLUDING THE WHOLESALE, THE DISTRIBUTIVE TRADE AND
FUTURES DEALINGS - AS ALSO THE IMPORT AND EXPORT OF RAW MATERIALS,
MINERALS, METALS, ORGANIC MATTERS, SEMI-MANUFACTURES AND FINAL PRODUCTS
WHATEVER THER NATURE AND UNDER WHICH NAME WHATSOEVER.
9. THE PARTICIPATING IN OTHER ENTERPRISES AND CORPORATIONS.
10. THE CORPORATION IS ENTITLED TO TRANSACT ALL THAT MAY BE NECESSARY OR
USEFUL TO ACHIEVE ITS PURPOSE OR THAT IS RELATED THERETO IN THE WIDEST
SENSE OF THE WORD.
Country
aruba
Financial Secrecy Index [more info] 68
Previous Company Random Next Company