With an impatient Justice John Gomery demanding truthful answers, Alfonso Gagliano struggled on the witness stand yesterday to maintain that he never made the final decisions on where the money went in the now-defunct sponsorship program. "Mr. Gagliano, you have to answer the question honestly," Gomery interjected at one point in the inquiry when the former public works minister disputed written evidence that he had approved one 1999 sponsorship application. Bernard Roy, the lead counsel of the commission of inquiry, continued yesterday to present a barrage of evidence that Gagliano, as public works minister, had regularly intervened to steer the sponsorship grants to the applicants he preferred. But for the third day, the Liberal stalwart claimed he had only given suggestions or made recommendations to his officials on how to handle sponsorship decisions.