Maltese businessman and murder suspect Yorgen Fenech offered on Thursday to testify against top politicians in case of the 2017 murder of a journalist in exchange for a presidential pardon, Eurasia Diary reports citing Deutsche Welle that Reuters news agency and The Times of Malta reported.

The Maltese Cabinet met for an emergency meeting on Thursday evening as the ongoing murder probe threatens to destabilize the government. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced early Friday that no pardon had been granted to Fenech.

Fenech officially requested the pardon in exchange for more information, after he was arrested on his yacht last week.

The lawyers for Fenech said Muscat should not be involved in deciding on a pardon because he was among "persons who may have an interest for such a pardon not to be granted."

Fenech had previously named Muscat's former right-hand man and chief of staff Keith Schembri as the mastermind of Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder, according to police sources, who cited Fenech's interrogation.

Schembri was released late Thursday without charge, after resigning and being arrested on Tuesday. He was one of three government officials who stepped down earlier this week.

"The situation is very serious," Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne told journalists on his way to the Cabinet meeting.