Drug counsellor manipulated health system to cover up clients’ drug use
Anthony Dieni arranged for a doctor to provide a client with Panadeine Forte to explain the opiates in her system, Vic county court hears
A drug and alcohol counsellor helped cover up his clients’ continued drug misuse while on bail, including arranging for doctors to write opiate-based scripts and obtaining other people’s urine so they could pass drug tests.
Melbourne man Anthony Dieni, 72, also lied to courts about them attending appointments, and traded his shifty behaviour to secure illicit drugs, including for his grandson.
Mr Dieni had been a counsellor at St Paul’s drug rehab for 39 years when Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog IBAC began investigating him.
In one case, he arranged for one client to take drug tests privately so she could bring urine from another woman to pass off as her own.
