Whistleblower Benhur Luy testified Monday that Janet Lim Napoles held final authority over payments made to lawmakers in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam, describing a system where kickbacks were disguised as “advances.”

Luy, a former employee of Napoles’ JLN Corp., provided the testimony as the Sandiganbayan’s First Division resumed hearings on malversation and graft charges against Napoles and former Technology Resource Center director general Antonio Ortiz.

According to Luy, the funds were “commingled” from various government agencies and funneled through banks only after Napoles provided personal approval.

Under cross-examination regarding his daily disbursement reports, Luy clarified that while he was not a government official, his role at JLN Corp. was to track the inflow and outflow of these funds.

He told the court that the files, which cover transactions from 2004 to 2010, are “highly reliable” records of the scheme.

The records were famously recovered from an external hard drive Luy maintained during his time as Napoles’ personal assistant. They have served as primary evidence in the long-running “pork barrel” scandal.

Luy is scheduled to return to the witness stand on 6 April.