" In a court of law that would be thrown out among laughter and derision from judge and jury."

As no actual crime has been committed that would be a civil court Shaw, where no such absolutes as "beyond" reasonable doubt apply, cases are judged on probability and taking into account the events and the time line I do not think that it would be beyond the bounds of probability that your jury would conclude that there had been a pay off for a "whitewash".