None of this really matters, whether it was a bonified record or not. Someone is gonna come along in the next year or so and beat it, then the old record won’t matter.

Here in the states many a past record was made by flying late into the evening or by breaking past 18k into controlled airspace or by sneaking thru lower level controlled airspace. This was all in the days before gps. The records were all approved but in time they were surpassed. Guys need to spend less time worrying about some guy getting a break by the powers that be, and spend more time going out and breaking the record themselves.