This is a second hand anecdote. The setting and background does not
matter, because it could happen anywhere.

But the dialogue is crucial.

A Staff Officer was summoned for a Court case to depose. When he went
to his old office, he saw that his old notings, where he had objected
to certain matters, had been destroyed, and he had the unenviable task
now to defend the indefensible, as his entire chain on top of him had
committed to the wrong line.

The Staff Officer confronted his ex Boss about the situation, before
he went to the grilling.

The Boss blithely said , ” Haven’t you lied in your career, to reach
where you have?”

What followed is inconsequential.

I will let you mull over the apocryphal sentence in all its true
splendour, import and implication, for you to make your own
resolution.