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 Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency.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

GOLD HORN TRADING

Company Name GOLD HORN TRADING
Date of Registration 10th May 2014
Company Objective 1. its own account and for third parties acting, including the purchase, sale, import and export - as well as the transit, wholesale, retail, agenturen- and commission trade in all appropriate merchandise, and more specifically but not limited to:
a all kinds of food, Ievens- and foods, dairy products, meat and meat products, fish and fish products, fruit and vegetables, cheese, chocolate, for ice cream or similar item for consumption and /. or meats, grocery items, stimulants, bakery products;
b. all kinds of strong, weak alcoholic and / or non-alcoholic beverages;
c. the manufacture, processing, handling and packaging of the products mentioned in paragraph 1 sub a and b;
d. it will be mentioned in paragraph 1 sub a, b and c for much needed to be taken of the conditions contained in the Regulation and the Ordinance on distilleries;
e. household appliances and articles, electrical and electronic devices and items, also including radios, televisions, satellite dishes ( 'satellite dish' ') with accessories, CD, DVD and Blu ray players and "recorders", game consoles ( "game consoles'' ), handhelds, computers, laptops, tablets, gramophone sets, tape recorders, CDs, DVDs, blu-ray's, PSP's - video games, records, cassettes, vacuum cleaners, dryers, calculators and typewriters, video and air cooling appliances, refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, gas cookers, clocks, shearing machines;
f bleaching preparations and other substances for laundry, cleaning, cleaning, polishing, scouring and abrasive preparations, insecticides, soaps, perfumery, essential alien, cosmetics, hair lotions, dentifrices;.
g lingerie. clothing, hats, bags, gloves, bags, belts, leather goods, footwear, shoe polishes, travel accessories, textiles and textile articles falling
h brushes, canvas goods, embroidered products, hosiery, carpets, rugs and coverings, wallpaper and fabrics.;
i. restroom supplies, sewing kits, kitchen utensils, cookware, tableware, playing cards, stationery, bird food, batteries;
j Jewelry, jewelery, spectacles, souvenirs, gift items, clocks and watches, glassware.;
k.     speelgoederen, baby items, party favors as well as recreational and sports goods;
L.     kantoor- and shopping needs, books, magazines, daily, weekly and monthly magazines, school accessories and supplies;
m plants, flowers, earth, garden tools and all kinds of items used in and for the garden.;
n.     gloeilampen, Iicht- and neon items, lampshades, all kinds of lighting for both indoor and outdoor lighting;
O.     papier- and plastic goods, cardboard and paperboard;
p. cameras, photo products and equipment, chemicals, materials and products for developing, printing or saving photos;
q. home and office furniture, office equipment, lamps, lights, ceiling and wall decorations, carvings and other decor items;
r. stainless steel, cutlery, kitchen utensils and other products for restaurants, hotels and other catering establishments;
s. building materials and tools, paint products, hardware, wood, tiles and various items normally sold in a hardware store;
t. new and used boats, boats and other vessels, as well as motorcycles, parts and accessories therefor;
. auto parts and auto accessories, oil and paint, bicycles and car and bicycle tires, repair and maintenance supplies; .
v tobacco, smoking accessories and also including cigars, cigarettes, cigar cutters, lighters and cigar cases;
2. the setting of bail and other guarantees, jointly and severally undertake and transferring ownership whether or not in fiduciary or trust or mortgage, pledge or otherwise encumber assets, all this as security for the payment of the debts of the Company and of the debts of third parties, whether in return contraprestatie;
3. investing its assets in securities such as shares and other securities in respect of bonds and other interest-bearing debt, by whatever name and in whatever form;
4. directly or indirectly invest its assets in property and rights to acquire, possess, rent, lease, lease, lease, subdivide, drainage, develop, enhance, edit, cultivate, sell or otherwise dispose of, mortgage or otherwise encumber immovable business and the construction of infrastructure projects such as roads, pipelines and similar works on immovable property;
5. the benefit of management, staff, employees and / or former employees of the company or of its affiliates and / or closing their survivors to: standing right, annuity contracts and agreements of pension insurance with an insurer who is in possession of a authorization referred to in Article 5, first paragraph, of the State Ordinance supervision insurance;
6. building and ensuring pension in favor of - and making distributions to shareholders Directors of the Company or its affiliates, and their survivors;
7. acting as finance and mediating in the realization of financing of all types of transactions;
8. the company's activities referred to in paragraph 7 can only carry out in such a way that they do not as a credit institution as defined in Article 1 paragraph 1 of the Ordinance Supervision Credit System can be considered. explicitly the hair is prohibited without exemption, to perform Banking transactions mentions in Article 48 of the Ordinance Supervision;
9. participating imports, may support buying an interest in any particular way, or perform public administration or observing the representation of other companies, partnerships and legal persons, regardless of the target definition. The company can only perform these activities in such a way that it can not be regarded as a trust office as referred to in Article 1 of the State Ordinance on the Supervision of Trust Offices;
10. the performance of all work and all acts which are related to the above in the broadest sense, arising therefrom or may be conducive thereto;
11.     the above will be made to the extent permitted by and subject to the provisions under or pursuant to the relevant legislation.
Country
aruba
Financial Secrecy Index [more info] 68
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