Identical in the record

A scene from a story. Illustration, not evidence. Nothing in it is a finding. What it stands in for, and what it does not establish, is set out below.

Because it was true. That was the thing. He had done too much. He had paid men out of turn, taken parts to the market himself, resolved tickets that weren't his, put ₦1.1 million in his own account because somebody asked him to and it was easier, worked eleven-hour days for a company he loved, and every single one of those things had been him doing more than he was asked, and every single one of them now read, from outside, as a man positioning himself near money.

There was no conduct available to him that would have looked different. If he had done less he'd have been useless. Doing more, unwitnessed, is identical in the record to doing more, unwitnessed, for yourself. The record is empty in both cases. The record was always going to be empty.