It's typically a good idea to know the folks you've given code access to.

I would have cut out the middleman and hired the ghostwriter. The guy that sat in our office was useless and probably made the majority of the money. I don't think he deserved to be paid.

I think the example parent gave was enough to answer that: if there was a critical issue that needed to be fixed in hours, this employee would have been unable to do it.

(Also agree with the sibling about it being good to know who you're giving access to your company's resources and private information. If someone is willing to lie about their skills and have someone else do their work overnight, what other sketchy things might they be doing without your knowledge?)

As a manager of the guy, yes.

How reliable or accurate do you think those notes are?

How secure is having someone outside your company writing code that runs inside your servers?