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Fresh testimony at the corruption trial of former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin has painted a picture of the defendant’s wife, Neneng Sri Wahyuni, as the real power behind his host of shell companies.

Testifying at the Anti-Corruption Court in Jakarta on Friday, Oktarina Furi, Neneng’s former personal assistant at Nazaruddin’s Permai Group holding company, said Neneng was the sole person in the organization who held the keys to all four cash-filled safes in the office.

“No one was allowed to take any money without Neneng’s permission, even if it was Nazaruddin,” Oktarina said.

“She held full authority.”

Oktarina added that three of the safes were in Neneng’s room, while the fourth was in the office of Yulianis, the company’s former deputy director of finance.

Oktarina also corroborated Yulianis’s earlier testimony that the company had forced its employees to sign up as fictional directors and commissioners for the 35 shell companies under the group. However, she stressed that it was Neneng and not Nazaruddin who had ordered this, by threatening the employees with hefty pay cuts if they refused to comply.

“I was listed as the chief commissioner for one of the companies, Exartech Technology Utama, and the chief director of another, Permai Raya Wisata,” she said, adding: “I was told to do it by Neneng, otherwise I would have had my pay cut.”

In her testimony a day earlier, Yulianis revealed that employees who refused to play along were threatened with pay cuts of Rp 1 million ($112) a month for those in the position of supervisor and higher, and Rp 500,000 for those in lower positions. Oktarina said her own monthly salary was Rp 7 million.

All companies must have a list of commissioners and directors when they first register with the government, and although they often play no role in the daily operations of the company, they are liable for its activities.

Oktarina said that despite being listed on the board, she and the other employees never received the privilege granted to directors and commissioners, including share holdings and a greater say in the running of the company.

She added that in addition to using her name to register the shell companies, Neneng also ordered her to open time-lock deposits at a bank, again under Oktarina’s name.

There were two accounts that she opened at a Bank Mandiri branch in Central Jakarta: one for Rp 5 billion and the other for Rp 2 billion. The cash for both was taken from the safes in the Permai Group office.

Neneng herself has been named a suspect in the case but is currently in hiding abroad. She had fled the country with her husband in May last year, just before he was named a suspect, but remained abroad after he was captured in Colombia. A red notice for her arrest has been issued by Interpol.

In Friday’s hearing, Oktarina also revealed that the web of shell companies allowed Nazaruddin to draw multiple salaries under different names. These included Amir R., Mr. Mercy and Mr. Lucky.

Anang Supriyatna, a prosecutor for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), told reporters after the hearing that all three names were listed in the Permai Group’s records, all of them drawing salaries that ultimately went to Nazaruddin.