Former chief of staff Keith Schembri told jurors that Yorgen Fenech pleaded with him not to abandon him as police closed in on the businessman before his arrest in November 2019. Schembri said then prime minister Joseph Muscat called him on the eve of the arrest, saying the security services and Armed Forces believed Fenech was about to leave Malta. Schembri testified that he warned Fenech not to leave the country because it would only draw attention to himself. Asked about messages exchanged after news broke that Melvin Theuma would receive a presidential pardon, Schembri first quipped, “Ask Saviour Balzan,” before saying it was “obvious” why Fenech was so interested. “It was obvious that if Theuma received a pardon, everything would fall on Fenech,” Schembri said.