The man who benefited from a Presidential pardon he did not ask for will shortly hold the mantle of the nation's highest office.
The state had charged lawyer George Abela in court over incidents that happened during industrial action ordered by the union he was representing. This is the irony that accompanies the nomination of the next President of the Republic.
It was 1999 when Dr Abela was involved in a melee, alongside other General Workers' Union officials after the police had arrested a number of Malta International Airport employees following a union directive to strike. The union officials had raced after the police bus carrying the arrested workers and blocked its way at Marsa, where a scrum ensued.
As the GWU's legal advisor, Dr Abela was present on that tumultuous afternoon, which saw tempers and police hats fly. He was subsequently arraigned alongside the union's top officials for having obstructed the police.
The criminal charges against the union officials were dropped after the government requested a Presidential pardon. Dr Abela refused to play ball and persisted with the constitutional case he had filed, insisting he had done nothing wrong at the time.
This incident portrays a man of conviction. It is a character trait that has accompanied him through life.
He had only been president of the Malta Football Association for 18 months when he faced the biggest defeat Malta ever suffered in international football.
The Spaniards ran riot, beating Malta 12-1 amid rumours of corruption. Not one to take things lightly, Dr Abela appointed an independent board of inquiry to see what went wrong in that dreadful game. The conclusions found no wrongdoing but showed the team was ill-prepared for the match.
A year later, Dr Abela presided over the first professional training scheme for national team players.
His convictions were tested heavily in the long hot summer of 1998. Two months after having resigned as the personal advisor to then Prime Minister Alfred Sant because of disagreement over how the unions were being handled, Dr Abela opposed calls for an early election.
During the Labour Party's (PL) extraordinary general conference held in July 1998, Dr Abela shocked delegates when he argued against an early election. "I will stop here," if delegates decided to back the motion, he had warned.
And that is what he did. Dr Abela resigned as deputy leader for party affairs and stayed away from politics until last year's PL leadership bid.
He was nominated by the government on the Malta-EU Steering Action Committee (Meusac) during the pre-accession negotiations, a period of reflection, which he admitted convinced him that EU membership was the right choice for Malta. In an interview last year, Dr Abela admitted for the first time that he had voted "yes" in the EU referendum in 2003.
"When we came to the election I voted along party lines and my party has always been the Labour Party," he had said.
During the PL's leadership contest last year, Dr Abela told l-orizzont that after his wife, the GWU occupied a special place in his heart. It was this union that possibly tested his convictions the most.
After 24 years of service with the GWU he resigned from the legal office in 2000 when the union wanted to impose certain conditions on its lawyers. Dr Abela had deemed the GWU's actions over the budget measures as illegal. He subsequently refused to represent the union when government corporations filed a judicial protest holding the union responsible for damages.
His relationship with the GWU has remained frosty ever since, with the union leadership not taking it lightly when, in 2004, he was asked to act as intermediary between four unions represented at Air Malta.
In an interview in 1998 he described his decision to step down as president of the Malta Football Association in order to enter the political fray as moving "from football to rugby".
Dr Abela will now move on to a different "sport", far less aggressive, possibly comparable to table tennis, a sport he practised during his University days.
Only time will tell what action the Presidency holds in store for him.
Dr Abela was born in Qormi on April 22,1948. He is married to Margaret and has two children, Robert and Maria.
Factbox
Highlights from George Abela's life
1982 - Elected president of the Malta Football Association.
1983 - Embarrassed by Spain's 12-1 thrashing of Malta, he orders an independent inquiry.
1984 - Dr Abela presides over the first professional football scheme.
1992 - Elected Labour Party deputy leader for party affairs with 901 votes.
1996 - Labour wins the general election.
1997 - Prime Minister Alfred Sant appoints Dr Abela as personal advisor on political, social and legal matters, a post that gives him access to Cabinet meetings.
1998 - In April, Dr Abela resigns as Dr Sant's personal advisor. In July, he opposes a motion to go for an early election and steps down as deputy leader, party affairs.
2000 - Dr Abela resigns from the GWU after the union imposes conditions on its legal advisors.
2002 - Appointed chairman of the Kerygma Movement's Campaign for Solidarity through Sport.
2003 - Having been a member of Meusac's core group during EU negotiations, Dr Abela votes "yes" in the referendum over EU membership.
2004 - He is asked by four unions, including the GWU section represented at Air Malta, to act as facilitator in their dispute with the government over the restructuring exercise.
2004 - His name is half-heartedly floated by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi as a Presidential contender during a telephone conversation with then Labour deputy leader Charles Mangion.
2006 - Dr Abela is appointed by port workers to represent their interests in talks with the government over port reform after they expressed lack of trust in the GWU leadership.
2008 - Dr Abela runs for Labour's top job finishing runner-up after Joseph Muscat. He is subsequently appointed the PL's representative on the newly-formed Meusac.
2009 - Dr Gonzi nominates him as the country eighth President.