You see that a lot in companies. Some people understand that getting their name on achievements is what really gets rewarded so they act accordingly.
The guy recommending the bonus was bit generous (really good at attributing bonus to the person who put in the hard work barring other bias) and the guy handing out the bonus was the one who battled hard to reduce every bonus as the company had hired him to limit the unnecessary bonus to employees.
Every employee thought that he is the one fighting management to get them their bonus and got lots of love/respect and the generous guy got nothing.