Funico might be the one who knows the truth.
He hid those ledgers in the vault of the factory's secret room; they couldn't possibly appear in the study's drawer.
Therefore, this must have been Shire's doing, using his intelligence organization...
Funico did say so.
But no one believed him; people thought it was yet another of his plots to frame Shire, leading only to punches and insults:
"Irredeemable bastard, the evidence is conclusive, yet you still try to frame Shire."
"You must have been instructed by someone to do this."
"Speak, who is supporting you?"
...
The key point is that those ledgers are real, clearly documenting every transaction of Funico's, including the amounts involved and who received bribes, etc.
Thus, any "defense" by Funico would be a self-revealing confession.
...
Shire wasn't very concerned about these matters; he trusted Lucia to handle them well.
