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 Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency.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

C & S SERVICES

Company Name C & S SERVICES
Date of Registration 17th July 2004
Company Objective 1. THE ADOPTION AND EXECUTION OF WORK ON TECHNICAL FIELD IN GENERAL, BUT ESPECIALLY THE INSTALLATION, REPAIR, MAINTAIN AND SELLING, SUCH AS, BUT WITHOUT PURPOSE TO BE LIMITED conditioning units, refrigerators and freezers, WASHING MACHINES, DRYERS AND OTHER OPERATING EQUIPMENT AND MACHINERY.
2.HET DRIVING ONE OR MORE WORKSHOPS TO MAKE PERFORMANCE OF THE ABOVE WORKS AND INSTALLATIONS.
3. EXERCISING THE electricity, -Installation and maintenance BUSINESS TO THE FULLEST SENSE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO HAVE THE EXERCISE OF METAL AND WELDING, LOODGIESTERSWERKEN, masonry and TIMMERWERKEN AND ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS AND OBTAIN SCHOONMAAKWERZAAMHEDEN.
4.HET, HAVING (DO) SETTING (DO) OPERATE (DO) administration, RENT AND HIRING OF ONE OR MORE SHOPS OR COMPANIES IN WHICH THE EXERCISE OF THE SAID WORK AND EQUIPMENT NEEDED ITEMS, PRODUCTS, MATERIALS, TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS TRADED .
5. HIRING AND HIRING OF EQUIPMENT AND MACHINERY AND TOOLS REQUIRED FOR SAID TYPE OF WORK AND PLANTS.
6. TRADE INCLUDING THE IMPORT, EXPORT, small, WHOLESALE, AGENTUREN- AND COMMISSION TRADE IN COMPUTERS, COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND SOFTWARE PROGRAMS OTHER PROGRAMS, PERIPHERALS, OR OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICE INFORMATION PROCESSING equipments, PERFERI UNITS AND SUPPLIES THE FOREGOING, ACCESSORIES, PARTS AND INSTRUMENTS, INCLUDING RENT AND RENT, LEASE AND GRANTING OF SERVICE, MAINTENANCE AND MAKE REPAIRS.
7. EXERCISING A CAR REPAIR COMPANY AND THE PROVISION OF SERVICES FOR THE PURPOSES OF MOTOR VEHICLES, BUSES, TRUCKS AND VEHICLES, TRACTORS, TRACTORS, TRAILERS, CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT, MOTORCYCLES AND OTHER FIGHTING EQUIPMENT AND ALL THIS APPLICATION OF MOST MODERN EQUIPMENT AND TECHNIQUES IN THIS FIELD.
8. BUYING AND SELLING OF SPARE PARTS, ACCESSORIES, OIL AND PAINT PRODUCTS, MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR EQUIPMENT WITH RESPECT TO SCANNED SAID VEHICLES.
9. THE PROVISION OF ALL MEASURES WHICH ARE CONNECTED WITH THE FOREGOING, EVERYTHING TO THE FULLEST SENSE.
10. PARTICIPATING IN OTHER COMPANIES AND / OR COMPANIES WHATEVER THEIR PURPOSE.
Country
aruba
Financial Secrecy Index [more info] 68
Previous Company Random Next Company