> latent defects frequently have a long shelf life
They do, but it has also been observed that code in which no bugs have been found is less likely to harbor them than code in which some bugs have already been found and fixed (other things being equal, of course).
If I had had to bet where in the whole codebase the next bug would turn up, I certainly would not have bet it would be in this guy's code.
And it's "no bug was found that anyone knew of". Not a bad standard, but latent defects frequently have a long shelf life.