Gia Getsadze, who served on various high-ranking positions in ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili’s administration till mid-2005, is set to become Deputy Justice Minister of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Justice Minister, Pavlo Petrenko, said at a news conference on January 14 that in his capacity of deputy minister Getsadze will be in charge of anti-corruption policy, staffing and reforms commission.

At the news conference Petrenko also introduced several other former Georgian officials who will also be joining the Ukrainian Justice Ministry.

Getsadze served as Georgia’s deputy justice minister for few months in 2004, before he was appointed as governor of Imereti region in western Georgia; he served as deputy interior minister in April-July, 2005. Getsadze then launched his private law firm; he is dean of the law school at the Tbilisi-based Ilia State University.

Getsadze is slated to become a third former Georgian official to take senior government post in Ukraine after ex-healthcare minister Alexander Kvitashvili took the same post in Ukraine and ex-deputy interior minister Eka Zguladze was appointed as Ukraine’s deputy interior minister.

Three other former Georgian officials who will be joining the Ukrainian Justice Ministry are Jaba Ebanoidze, ex-head of Georgia’s revenue service, who also served at various posts in Georgia’s Justice Ministry in 2006-2011; Khatia Shelia, who was head of the legal department at the National Bureau of Enforcement under the Justice Ministry, ad Giorgi Tsiklauri, former head of the state online registry of legal acts.

Ukrainian Justice Minister Petrenko said that the appointments will be made after these former Georgian officials receive Ukrainian citizenship.

Announcement about Ukraine’s intention to appoint Gia Getsadze as deputy justice minister was first made by ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili on his Facebook page earlier on January 14. Saakashvili wrote that Getsadze is his “friend”, who has been his “close adviser throughout these years.”