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 Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency.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

I MARK

Company Name I MARK
Date of Registration 14th January 2004
Company Objective 1. EXERCISING ANY ADVERTISING ADVISORY AND MARKETING OFFICE AND A
ADMINISTRATION OFFICE.
2. GIVING ADVICE IN THE FIELD OF MARKETING (MARKETING "), PUBLIC
RELATIONS, ADVERTISE (" ADVERTISING ") PROMOTION (" SALES
PROMOTION "), AND ON THE MARKET MARKET (" merchandising ") , MARKET
INVESTIGATION ( "MARKETING RESEARCH"), PLANNING AND MARKET MANAGEMENT
( "MANAGEMENT").
3. THE PROVISION OF SERVICES AND THE PROVISION OF ALL ON
ORGANIZATION, DISTRIBUTION, film production, FILM DIRECTOR, COMMUNICATIONS, ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION, FINE ARTS, creative-, graphics and
AUDIO-VISUAL DESIGN, PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT WRITING.
4. MAKING FILM, photography, VIDEO AND MUSIC pRODUCTIONS AND ALL OTHER
TYPES OF AUDIOVISUAL PRODUCTIONS.
5. BUYING, SELLING, RENT, RENT, MOUNTING AND dISPLAYING OF
SOUND RECORDINGS, AUDIO-VISUAL, PROGRAMS, COMPLAINTS AND EVENTS OF
ANY KIND.
6. THE PROVISION OF SERVICES TO THIRD PARTIES ON THE CARE AND ORGANIZATION
OF ALL MATTERS WITH BOTH THE wRITTEN AND THE ELECTRONIC MEDIA
RELATED.
7. PROMOTING PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT SERVICES AND THE
MARKETING OF PRODUCTION SERVICES AND PRODUCTS OF ANY KIND
ALSO, THAT BOTH ON BEHALF OF THIRD PARTIES FOR THEIR OWN ACCOUNT;
8. ORGANIZING AND SELLING ALL KINDS OF ACTIVE TIES, EVENTS,
TRADE SHOWS, CONFERENCES, SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES.
9. THE EXPLOIT OF ACCESS TO THE WORLD WIDE WEB AND ALL OTHER
MULTIMEDIA NETWORKS AND ACTIVITIES AND WIRELESS PROTOCOL.
10. TRADE IN GENERAL - INCLUDING THE IMPORT AND EXPORT
WHOLESALE, OF COMMISSION TRADE AND AGENTUURHANDEL - IN ELECTRONIC
ITEMS, INCLUDING PARTICULARLY THOSE COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
11.A.. THE PROVISION OF SERVICES IN THE FIELD OF AUTOMATED
DATA AND / OR ADMINISTRATION
B. PERFORMANCE OF AUTOMATION PROJECTS, INCLUDING IN THIS MUST
MEANS TO DEVELOP new- OR ADJUSTING
EXISTENCE OF SOFTWARE;
C. THE CARE OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN THE FIELD OF THE
AUTOMATION.
12. INSTALLATION AND NOW HAVE SPECIFIC DIGITAL
TELECOMMUNICATIONS - EQUIPMENT FOR THE PROVISION OF TELE
COMMUNICATION SHOULD STEN RELATING TO TERMINALS IN ARUBA AND
CONCERNING TERMINALS AND OTHER PLANTS OUT OF ARUBA
13.. Transferring the provision of guarantee and other guarantees and ownership - whether or not
Fiduciary ownership or trust - or mortgage, pledge or otherwise encumber
assets, a thing as security for the payment of debts
the company and the debts of third parties, whether in return contraprestatie;
14. ALL OR PART OF BUILDING IN PENSION
BENEFIT OF THE COMPANY EMPLOYEES OR FORMER EMPLOYEES
AND / OR THEIR SURVIVORS;
15. Acting as a finance and mediating in IT
CREATION OF FINANCING OF VARIOUS TYPES OF TRANSACTIONS;
16. THE COMPANY MAY SUB 15 LISTED ACTIVITIES ONLY
BE MADE IN THE CONTEXT OF ITS NORMAL BUSINESS - NOT
BEING IN SIGNIFICANTLY Acting as a finance -
AND IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY DO NOT LIKE CREDIT UNDER
THE NATIONAL ORDINANCE CREDIT CONTROL SUBSTANCE CAN BE CONSIDERED.
ALSO HAIR EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN TO APPLY TO PUBLIC
PULL AND / OR GE; THE SILENCE OF THE PUBLIC;
17. PARTICIPATING IN, SUPPORT GRANT ON OR ARE IN ANY WAY
FURTHER INTEREST, OR THE DIRECTORS CARRY ON OR REPRESENTATIVES
representation SIGHTING OF OTHER COMPANIES, AND COMPANIES
LEGAL PERSONS, REGARDLESS OF THE TARGET DEFINITION;
18. PERFORM ALL WORK AND ALL TRANSACTIONS WITH ANY
THE FOREGOING, TO THE FULLEST MEANING IN CONNECTION, RESULTING THEREFROM
MAY THERETO OR FOSTER.
Country
aruba
Financial Secrecy Index [more info] 68
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