A former French minister in the Sarkozy administration dubbed “the Chinese masseur” stood trial on Tuesday accused of raping two former female employees during reflexology sessions in his municipal office.

Georges Tron, 61, is accused, with the complicity of his former culture assistant Brigitte Gruel, of practicing “plant reflexology” on two ex-employees at the town hall of the southern Paris suburb of Draveil that quickly morphed into sexual assault including digital penetration.

The two defendants, who both denied any wrongdoing, risk a maximum 20 years in prison if found guilty of "gang rape".

The plaintiffs said they felt powerless to resist being groped as they were afraid of losing their jobs. One of them later resigned, while the other was fired over accusations of theft.

The pair separately tried to commit suicide before filing police complaints against Mr Tron and Ms Gruel, according to Le Monde newspaper.

The trial comes a decade after the alleged events and more than seven years after the eruption of the scandal, which came to light in the wake of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair and which cost Mr Tron his ministerial post.