Sleight Of Hand

"No good deed shall go unpunished" might be the motto for hand transplant recipient Clint Hallam.

A French judge has put Hallam under investigation for allegedly taking money from a group he helped found to aid transplant victims, a state prosecutor said Monday.

The 49-year-old New Zealander, who has been living in the United States and Australia, received the hand and forearm of an unidentified donor in surgery a year ago in Lyon.

The French police are now charging him with fraud - the same charges that landed him in jail in New Zealand where he lost his hand.

Hallam, who was in Lyon for medical tests, was detained Saturday at his hotel, taken to court and placed under investigation for breach of trust, said Francois Molins, Lyon's deputy state prosecutor.

Molins said Hallam was released and placed under judicial control, meaning he must report his movements to police and may not leave France.

The move followed a complaint filed June 18 by Thierry Decottignies, a liver transplant recipient who started an association for transplant patients with Hallam.

Decottignies, who housed Hallam during his convalescence, claims Hallam made off with the association's funds and a credit card, a loss totaling about $30,000.

Hallam was serving a two-year sentence for fraud in New Zealand when he lost his hand in a chain saw accident in prison.