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 Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency.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

CIGUSTA ARUBA

Company Name CIGUSTA ARUBA
Date of Registration 15th February 2013
Company Objective 1. to conduct, in its own name and for its own account, business on the field of hospitality ('horeca") in the broadest sense of the word;
2. to operate one (1) or more ice-cream parlors, tea/coffee rooms, including the sale of pastry and sandwiches, cocktail lounges, bars and/or restaurants, nightclubs and/or fast food establishments in its own name and for its own account;
3. the import and export of, the wholesale, transit, retail trade, commission and agency business in all sorts of ice-cream parlor, tea/coffee room and bakery products, ice-cream suitable for consumption, coffee and coffee products, all kinds of candy and candy products, delicatessen, merchandise, and drugstore articles such as, without being limited to:
a. frozen yoghurt, gelato, ice-cream and ice-cream cakes, ice-cream cones, sorbet, ice-cream waffles, ice-cream popsicles, milkshakes, roasted espresso bean coffee, ground coffee, tea, tea and espresso coffee machines, pastry, cookies, cakes, biscuits, snacks, chocolate, confectionery, coffee caramels, marshmallows, peppermint, chewing gum, all kinds of licorice, marzipan, dried fruit, peanuts, savory snacks, various kinds of cheese, pates and other savory bites, foods and stimulants, and all other kinds of products sold by patisseries and so-called ice-cream parlors;
b. all kinds of women's, men's, children's clothing and baby clothes, lingerie, beach and sports articles, hats, caps, shoes, ties, belts, bags, suitcases, leather goods and faux leather goods, watches, gift and tourist articles, wallets, cosmetics, perfumes, toiletries, sunglasses, gift articles, towels, suntan lotions, manicure articles, jewelry, trinkets, fancy articles, accessories, souvenirs and toys, carrying the brands and/or logos of this company, all this in the broadest sense of the word;
4. the trade in alcoholic, low-alcoholic, non-alcoholic beverages, and more in particular the trade in wine;
5. to perform all that is related to entertainment and amusement in the broadest sense of the word, such as, but not limited to, engaging and contracting musicians and artists and in general producing and promoting events, as well as supervising events, and this in as far as related to aforementioned activities;
6. the above shall be done with due observance of the provisions of the Licensing Ordinance ("Vergunningsverordening");
7. to provide surety ship and other guarantees, to jointly and severally bind itself and transfer in ownership - whether or not in fiduciary ownership or in trust - or to mortgage, pledge, or otherwise encumber assets, and this as security for payment of the company's debts and the debts of third parties, whether or not at a consideration;
8. to invest its capital in securities, such as shares and other certificates of participation, bonds, and other interest-bearing debts, by whatever name and in whatever form;
9. to directly or indirectly invest its capital in real estate and rights, to acquire, possess, rent, rent out, lease, lease out, parcel out, reclaim, develop, improve, treat, build over, sell or otherwise alienate, mortgage or otherwise encumber real estate, and to build infrastructural works, such as roads, ducts, and similar works on real estate;
10. for the benefit of board members, staff, employees, and/or former employees of the company or companies affiliated with it and/or their surviving relatives to contract agreements regarding rights to periodic payments, annuity contracts, and pension insurance agreements with an insurer that has a license as referred to in Article 5, first paragraph, of the State Ordinance Supervision Insurance Companies;
11. to accrue and secure pension plans for the benefit of, and to make payments to, directors-shareholders of the company or companies affiliated with it, and/or their surviving relatives;
12. to act as a finance company and to mediate in the realization of financing of all kinds of transactions;
13. the company may exclusively perform the activities referred to under 12 in such a manner that it cannot be deemed a credit institution as referred to in Article 1, paragraph 1, of the State Ordinance Supervision Credit System. It shall also be explicitly prohibited, without prejudice to exemption, from performing the acts referred to in Article 48 of the State Ordinance Supervision Credit System;
14. to participate in, support, or have an interest in any way in, or conduct the management of, or represent other businesses, companies, and legal entities, irrespective of the description of their object;
15. to perform all activities and acts that are related to, arise from or may be conducive to the above in the broadest sense;
16. the above shall be done to the extent permitted by and/or subject to the provisions by or pursuant to the relevant laws.
An ultra vires action shall be expressly excluded.
Country
aruba
Financial Secrecy Index [more info] 68
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