[ddj] New Zealand List Followers

Wed May 9 10:59:30 UTC 2012

Thanks for the comments all re: NZ data research comments. Actually, I
could use advice on a broader front.

I have spent 25 years as an investigative journalist covering wars
organized transnational crime, organized criminal syndicates, arms drugs
and other illict trafficking, human rights, asymmetrical warfare and money
laundering. Much of it was spent in jungles of southeast Asia--a lot in
Cambodia in the jungles trying to access Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge. It
was the antithises of today's research methods. It wasn't unusual for me to
walk for weeks to access information. And paper documents were the norm.
The point being this is a whole new world for me. I have spent much of the
last year educating myself on the amazing ability to collect and extract
data online. But either I am an idiot or I have a lot more work to do to
learn the ropes.

I have spent a year collecting hundreds of names, registered companies,
front companies, financial systems and banks, shipping records etc. This
all is related to a very sophisticated web of North Korean trafficking in
nuclear and missile components and technology, counterfeit money,
heroin,methamphetamine and then organizing the return of the proceeds
through the international financial systems to North Korea.

The problem is not so much that they are constantly setting up and
dissolving companies and paper banks and reconstituting them with new names
etc. The problem is accessing the list of registered directors and managers
of these companies. I am convinced if I can access the more detailed
corporate and banking records (most public records or accessible with the
right search knowledge and tools) required by national laws to be filed, I
can expose a very large international criminal syndicate run by a core of
top North Korean government leaders and their patronage networks of
managers.

They involve many countries, from the middle east to Asia, to Europe to
Africa, Russia etc. Hong Kong , Singapore, United Arab Emirates,
Lichtenstein, China, Lebanon Ethiopia, Austria Malaysia are examples.

One main problem I am sure many can relate to is I am not currently
affiliated with an institution--I am freelance. And many of the data bases
that list the names of directors of companies and banks and shipping cargo
records are very expensive.

I have date of birth and even passport numbers for many of these managers
of the network.

Any advice on what data search tools that are free (or someone who has
access to such data bases) would be immensily appreciated. I am all ears.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts, suggestions, and assistance. I should
be honest and admit one of my problems is I appear to be a computer idiot :)

Best regards to all involved in what seems to be a really brilliant
collaborative effort,

Cheers,

Nate Thayer

On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 5:34 AM, Innes <innes at quantumdata.co.nz> wrote:

> Thanks Tim,
>
> Will check out the Open Government ninjas website and register to get
> involved.
>
> Will be up in Auckland later this month. Would be interested to have a
> coffee and talk about what is happening in NZ.
>
> Cheers, Innes
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 9/05/2012, at 8:58 PM, Tim McNamara <paperless at timmcnamara.co.nz>
> wrote:
>
> > Innes -
> >
> > Most Kiwis in this space are part of the Open Government ninjas list:
> > http://groups.open.org.nz/groups/ninja-talk. There are many of the NZ
> > DDJ leaders there: Juha Saarinen, Keith Ng, etc.
> >
> > I'm based in Auckland (Symonds St) and am always up for a coffee.
> >
> > On 9 May 2012 20:51, Innes Fisher <innes at quantumdata.co.nz> wrote:
> >> Hi Nate,
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Well if I can help and do something in my spare time, let me know.
> Sometimes
> >> having someone on the ground makes things a bit easier. I won’t have a
> lot
> >> of time immediately but could possibly squeeze some time out of my busy
> >> schedule.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Personal banking records in NZ will be covered by the Privacy Act 1993
> so it
> >> would be difficult to acquire anything without breaking the law unless
> they
> >> were released either officially or by the individual(s) concerned.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I believe The NZ Companies Office has an API to allow you to search the
> >> company registrations and associated information (like Directors and
> >> Shareholders). You probably already know that. It might be possible to
> do an
> >> extract to create a more useful dataset though.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >>
> >> Innes
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> From: data-driven-journalism-bounces at lists.okfn.org
> >> [mailto:data-driven-journalism-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of
> nate
> >> thayer
> >> Sent: Wednesday, 9 May 2012 11:41 a.m.
> >> To: List about Data Driven Journalism and Open Data in Journalism.
> >> Subject: Re: [ddj] New Zealand List Followers
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Hi Innes:
> >>
> >> I am from the US (although lived in Asia for 25 years) but I am working
> on a
> >> story that involves New Zealand. It is exactly what good data journalism
> >> works for: The use of NZ based paper front companies to hide real
> ownership
> >> for the international transport of corrupt money arms drugs etc. Their
> are
> >> hundreds of fake companies registered to a single Aukland address to
> ship
> >> products rent airplanes, set up fake companies registered in other
> countries
> >> for bank transfers etc. SP Trading is its name and it briefly hit the
> news
> >> in December 2010 when an arms shipment was intercepted from North Korea
> to
> >> Iran in Bangkok. I am trying to track real ownership. If you or anyone
> else
> >> knows how to best mine company and bank records to trace the very
> >> complicated web I would love to know.
> >>
> >> Best
> >>
> >> Nate Thayer
> >>
> >> On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 4:26 PM, Innes Fisher <innes at quantumdata.co.nz>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Anyone from New Zealand following this list?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Would be interested in finding out what is going on in NZ in Data
> Journalism
> >> at present.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Cheers, Innes
> >>
> >>
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> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ________________________________
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