President Emeritus Eddie Fenech Adami has an image imprinted vividly in his mind: jurors returning a verdict at 2am and acquitting a former health minister of stealing government documents.

The minister was Alexander Cachia Zammit who, in 1971, soon after the Labour Government was elected to power, stood trial together with his brother.

“We knew it was absurd that a former minister, who took documents home to work with, found the police at his house after a change in government and was accused of stealing documents. But when the jurors unanimously found him not guilty, it proved our point. That is a moment I’ll never forget,” Dr Fenech Adami said, adding he was the lawyer of Dr Cachia Zammit’s brother.

The former health minister was represented by the late Guido de Marco.

Dr Fenech Adami was speaking during the launch of the biography It-Tabib Sandy: Biografija Ta’ Alexander Cachia Zammit (Dr Sandy Biography of Alexander Cachia Zammit). The book is written by Sergio Grech and published by the Kite Group.

Dr Cachia Zammit, who turned 89 in August, was appointed Minister of Labour and Social Welfare in 1962 and held that post until 1966 when he was appointed Health Minister, a post he held until June 1971.

Dr Cachia Zammit retired from politics in 1987 and was nominated Ambassador to the Holy See that same year. In 1992, he was made officer of the National Order of Merit.

The Kite Group announced at the launch that a book about the Libya crisis, as experienced by former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, was being written and would be published next month.

The book, written by Joseph Cassar, will be called Gonzi and Malta’s Break with Gaddafi.