[ddj] Using open company data for investigations: A new case study on Myanmar's jade industry

Tue Oct 27 19:13:43 UTC 2015

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share with you a white paper on how OpenCorporates data
<https://opencorporates.com/downloads/open_company_data_white_paper.pdf>
was used with the help of Open Knowledge to uncover the powerful elite
benefiting from Myanmar’s multi-billion dollar jade industry, in a
ground-breaking report from Global Witness
<http://www.globalwitness.org/myanmarjade>.

This investigation is an important case study on how open company data and
identifiers are critical tools to uncover corruption and the links between
companies and the real people benefitting from it. The report has received
wide coverage in the international media with mentions in  Wall Street
Journal
<http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2015/10/23/corruption-currents-myanmars-jade-trade-heist/>,
Guardian
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/23/myanmar-jade-trade-20bn-military-elite-drug-lords>,
BBC <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-34600551>, New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/23/world/asia/myanmars-jade-trade-is-a-dollar31-billion-heist-report-says.html?_r=0>,
Reuters <http://www.trust.org/item/20151023020137-0m63n/>, Wired
<http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-10/23/jade-trade-burma-corruption>,
ABC <http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4338175.htm>, AP
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/bf64cb8dfe85410b922c85a1e70abac6/myanmar-jade-rush-muddies-promise-change-fuels-conflict>,
and AFP <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVg0nR3UDw8&feature=youtu.be>. It
has also been widely received in the local press in Myanmar
<https://twitter.com/Global_Witness/status/658662999427825664>.

This white paper shows how not only was it critical that OpenCorporates had
this information (much of the information was removed from the official
register during the investigation), but that the fact that it was
machine-readable data, available via an API (data service), and
programmatically combinable with other data was essential to discover the
hidden connections between the key actors and the jade industry. Global
Witness was able to analyse this data with the help of *Open Knowledge
(thanks Sam!).*

I think it's a neat example of how open company data can be used for
investigations. You can download the white paper here
<https://opencorporates.com/downloads/open_company_data_white_paper.pdf>
or read
it on medium
<https://medium.com/@opencorporates/how-open-company-data-was-used-to-uncover-the-powerful-elite-benefiting-from-myanmar-s-multi-1ef35f88d6bd#.ommzbiwrk>
.
Would be great to hear what you think!
-- 
*Hera Hussain*
Community & Partnerships Manager
*OpenCorporates - building the world's largest open database of corporates*
*@herahussain*
Website <http://opencorporates.com/>  |  Twitter
<https://twitter.com/opencorporates> |  Blog
<http://blog.opencorporates.com/>

OpenCorporates is published by Chrinon Ltd, a company dedicated to
improving and publishing public data under an open licence that allows and
encourages reuse, including commercially. Registered in England, number
07444723.
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