Civil service minister Georges Tron denies allegations made by two women who worked for him in Draveil, near Paris
A French minister has resigned from Nicolas Sarkozy's government after he was put under investigation for allegedly sexually assaulting two women who worked for him.
The departure of the civil service minister, Georges Tron – who denies the allegations – was announced by the prime minister, François Fillon, on Sunday.
French prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into the accusations of sexual aggression and rape against Tron, whose lawyer, Olivier Schnerb, described the women as "inveterate liars" and said the accusations were "pure defamation" and "balderdash".
It happened two weeks after the arrest of the Socialist presidential hopeful, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is facing sexual assault charges in New York.
Tron's government position became untenable after the foreign minister, Alain Juppé, told a television programme that although he was "presumed innocent", he should consider resigning because "government ministers had to be above all suspicion".
The two women, aged 34 and 36, have lodged complaints with the public prosecutor, claiming Tron assaulted them between 2007 and 2010 while they worked at the town hall in Draveil, south of Paris, where he is the mayor.
They say they were encouraged to come forward after Strauss-Kahn's arrest a fortnight ago.
"When I see that a little chambermaid is capable of taking on Dominique Strauss-Kahn, I told myself I did not have the right to stay silent," one of the women told a French newspaper.
"Other women have perhaps suffered what I have suffered. I have to help them. We have to smash this omerta."
Last week a women's association claimed one of the women had come forward in November last year with a "credible" complaint against Tron.
In a statement, the European Association Against Violence Against Women at Work, said: "Her credibility is not in question from our point of view."
The 53-year-old Tron claims the women have a vendetta against him after being sacked from their jobs.
"I am not naive – they are trying to echo an affair taking place the other side of the Atlantic," he told Reuters last week.
In an interview prior to his resignation, he said: "The accusations against me are fantasy" but added that he was thinking about resigning, saying: "I don't want to become an embarrassment [to the government]."
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/29/french-minister-reisgns-accused-sexual-assault
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