Harnessing the Power of the Open Data Age
How technology and open data can be leveraged to collectively depict and expose the kleptocratic machine
Wealthy elites take advantage of a global network of enablers, favorable regulations, and low transparency jurisdictions to hide assets, move cash, and maintain a veneer of legitimacy. As civil society and investigative journalism have raised the alarm, governments and the public are becoming increasingly aware of the tactics and mechanisms used by kleptocrats to loot, embezzle, launder, and stash the proceeds of their corrupt acts. To stay ahead, the kleptocratic machine has become more complex and involves more players, making it harder to expose.
If the looting machine used to be a puzzle containing a few large pieces, it’s now a 1,000-piece puzzle of tiny, seemingly unrelated components with unique connections that must be put together carefully to see the full picture. This is no longer a one-person job.
In this new context, investigators have been shaking off the old tendencies to hoard information and instead are rapidly embracing a more collaborative style, recognizing that each investigator has a few pieces or sections of the puzzle that will only form a picture when placed together. Open data initiatives, technology, and collaborative partnerships have become essential tools for civil society and investigative journalists combating increasingly complex corruption.
By combining open data with collaborative efforts, investigators can explore and visualize corrupt networks. And by exposing the inner workings of corrupt systems through public investigations and data sharing, investigators contribute to a growing body of open information. This information then empowers a new set of investigators to delve deeper into the network, fostering a continuous cycle of discovery. For this reason, promoting open data accessibility and usability is crucial for maximizing the impact of this collaborative puzzle-solving process.
Step 1: Building off current resources
Regardless of where you are starting within a kleptocrat’s vast network, there are open-source resources that can be searched to begin exposing layers of the network. Many open data initiatives include data that has yet to be exploited — data that is just waiting for the right investigator with the right background and context to make sense of it. Transparency and open data power the work of investigators and researchers, increasing their chances of successfully connecting the dots.
A natural starting point is often corporate data. Paid corporate databases and other data providers may have valuable information for understanding parts of the corporate side of the kleptocratic machine. Given their focus on more transparent jurisdictions, however, these databases may only reveal the more well-known parts of the network. Relying only on these resources will provide a limited view. Invaluable insights come from lifting the lid on the underbelly of the kleptocratic machine, by looking in jurisdictions that lack transparency, for instance, or by identifying secretive company formations agencies.
This is where the international open data community plays a critical role in laying the groundwork for understanding the enablers and networks utilized by corrupt actors all over the world. Unique open data sets expose complex connections not easy to decipher at first glance. Some prominent examples to consider as part of any standard investigative process include:
· ICIJ Offshore Leaks is a database — created by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists — that contains information on more than 810,000 offshore entities that are part of the Pandora Papers, Paradise Papers, Bahamas Leaks, Panama Papers, and Offshore Leaks investigations.
· OCCRP Aleph is a global archive of research material for investigative reporting created by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
· OpenSanctions combines sanctions lists, databases of politically exposed persons, and other information about persons of public interest into a single, easy-to-use dataset.
· OpenCorporates is a searchable database of fresh, standardized, auditable information direct from official primary sources across 140+ jurisdictions.
Many of these data hubs include API access, which allows users to directly connect and retrieve data or download it in various formats, as well as other direct data download options to ingest the data into local systems. For example, The Sentry’s neo4j database includes data ingested from OpenSanctions and ICIJ so that it is always within reach when we are working on investigations.
Step 2: Depicting the network and contributing to open data
To tackle the immense complexity of modern corruption networks, investigators are increasingly relying on graph databases to track relationships and visualize connections. When shared publicly, graph databases provide a new perspective on the data and allow audiences to interact with it. In a way, it’s like publishing a part of the puzzle — people can see how the pieces fit together, identify missing parts, and spot potential areas for further investigation or policy changes.
In order to join this effort, The Sentry recently launched its own online tool, using Linkurious’ tool Ogma, to share its network mapping with the world. The Sentry’s Atlas allows users to explore in depth the various individuals and entities at the heart of The Sentry’s investigations and their relationships. Atlas provides users with multiple views of the same data and information with the aim that each view may provide new insights or spark leads. It can be navigated through an interactive tool, explored through detailed profiles with links to related content, and downloaded to combine with other data sets or ingested into local systems.
Sentry reports have featured hundreds of individuals and entities, and we’ve turned many of these findings into actionable data through our data sharing initiatives. Now, Atlas makes that data publicly accessible to help hold corrupt actors accountable and to give the public an opportunity to scrutinize information that should have been public to begin with. The data available in Atlas will expand in the coming months and years, but the platform launched with a particularly large and complex network.
Atlas’ first project, “Aliyev Empire,” looks at the network of the daughters of the president and vice president of Azerbaijan. It builds off findings available in public reporting and open data sets and includes updates to past reporting, as well as new findings and revelations. Given the vastness of the network and the secretive techniques used to obscure the sisters’ relationships to parts of the multibillion-dollar network, The Sentry recognizes that this map only represents a portion of the sister’s comprehensive holdings. And we’ve seen how, over time, the sisters have cut the network into smaller and smaller pieces, making mapping their holdings more and more challenging. Their network highlights the importance of developing a publicly available interactive and visual database that can be updated over time to reflect any changes and new findings.
Step 3: Making space for future collaboration
Open data not only offers space for investigators to explore the data within their own context, it also opens doors to collaborative efforts that combine knowledge and expertise. The world of kleptocracy is deeply interconnected and international, meaning that it requires a joint global effort to understand the ever-changing complexities and new adaptive tactics. In addition to data, investigators will need to take advantage of technology in order to best sift through and understand complex networks. Using technology to improve collaboration and then sharing knowledge and technical expertise will advance everyone’s ability to investigate effectively and take advantage of open data opportunities.
The Sentry intends for Atlas to be an ever-growing open data initiative, and this will require collaboration and information sharing. Atlas directs users willing to share information to The Sentry’s whistleblower platform, which provides several secure methods to share information with The Sentry’s investigative team. We hope that those with the missing puzzle pieces will consider sharing information with us to continue to build our collective understanding of the kleptocratic machine. It is only by putting all the pieces on the table that we can put them together to reveal the full and comprehensive inner workings of kleptocracy, and only then can we find the right tools to combat it.
