Keith Schembri, ex-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s former Chief of Staff, was pressed in court over the mysterious disappearance of a mobile phone he had been using around the time of his arrest, telling jurors that it may have been found by workmen carrying out works at his home.Prosecutor Godwin Cini questioned Schembri about phone records showing the device’s last activity at 5.03am on the day of his arrest in November 2019.Asked where he was at that time, Schembri replied that he was in bed. Cini challenged him on how the phone could have disappeared while he was asleep.“I understand that this is very hard to believe,” Schembri told the court.Schembri said he never reported the phone missing because he saw no need to, explaining that he simply bought a new one the following day.He also confirmed that he had tried to locate the device using its tracking features and claimed that police, telecom provider Epic and others had also attempted to trace it.Speculating about what may have happened, Schembri suggested the phone could have been picked up during works at his home.“Maybe one of the workmen at my house found it… I don’t know, I don’t know,” he said.When Cini again pointed to the phone’s final recorded activity at 5.03am, Schembri replied: “Maybe I slammed it, I don’t know.”The prosecution also questioned Schembri about who was present at his home after he was taken to the police depot. He said his ex-wife, eldest daughter and the family’s nanny were there, adding that although he had seen photographs showing his parents and Neville Gafà at the property, he had no idea when those images were taken.Later, prosecutors asked Schembri about claims by Kenneth Camilleri that messages had been relayed to him through Neville Gafà. Schembri said he could not remember whether Gafà had ever passed on such messages and insisted he had no idea he was about to be arrested.Asked about his current relationship with Gafà, Schembri said they no longer speak as frequently as before, saying some of Gafà’s attacks on Labour Party figures had irritated him.“If Gafà calls me, I speak to him,” Schembri said, adding that Gafà would have to be the one to reach out.•