[ddj] New Zealand List Followers
stephan at blancke.de
stephan at blancke.de
Wed May 9 13:29:45 UTC 2012
Nate,
interesting to read you are mentioning Austria - beside more "rough"
countries as Syria or Iran. Shouldn´t you get especially in Austria
informations you are looking for?
I did some research about a North Korean company and found mostly good
contacts or sources in Austria (e.g. the so called "Handelsregister").
Regards from Berlin
Stephan
> Thanks Dan: I have already contacted both site. It is indeed a great
> outfit, but almost all the site links require payment. And frustratingly
> most of them only deal with US and UK registered companies--the two places
> these sorts stay away from. I have messaged the research desk and they I
> expect will get back to me. I really need mainly a data base to run names
> of people to see what companies they show up affiliated with, and names of
> companies to see what people show up affiliated with them. But they are in
> places like China, UAE, Ethiopia, as well as Singapore, Malaysia Hong Kong
> Jordan Iran, Lebanon Syria, Austria etc etc. I actually did check Panama
> and came up with ships named under companies clearly the same as same cone
> who run everything from nukes to drugs. But the registration were clearly
> front names and local addresses--which is why I guess the reall owners
> registered there in the first place.
>
> Keep up the good work
>
> Cheers,
>
> Nate
>
> On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 7:22 AM, Dan <daniel at ohuiginn.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> Nate,
>>
>> I'm aware of one _very_ good resource for this, aimed at journalists in
>> precisely your position:
>>
>> http://www.investigativedashboard.org
>>
>> It's run by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a
>> network of investigative journalists. They have a bunch of links to
>> databases on the site. More importantly, they operate a free 'research
>> desk' -- i.e. you can send them a description of what you're looking
>> for, and they'll do what they can to help you. This includes funding for
>> paid databases, and asking lawyers/journalists on the ground to help
>> out.
>>
>> For purely company-related information, do try OpenCorporates. I
>> understand they are particularly keen to have journalists using the
>> site, to demonstrate the public value of their work. i.e. it's very
>> worth emailing them, either for advice or with thanks.
>>
>> And should your networks ever get as far as Panama, my own baby is a
>> company-record search there: http://ohuiginn.net/panama.
>>
>> best,
>> Dan
>>
>> On Wed, 2012-05-09 at 06:59 -0400, nate thayer wrote:
>> > 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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>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> ________________________________
>> > >>
>> > >> No virus found in this message.
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>> > >> Version: 2012.0.1913 / Virus Database: 2425/4985 - Release
>> > Date: 05/08/12
>> > >>
>> > >>
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