The ABC has sacked Four Corners reporter Mahmood Fazal after an internal investigation into his unauthorised appearance on a podcast last year. The broadcaster said Fazal is no longer employed at the ABC after the review found he breached its editorial policies.

Fazal joined the ABC in 2021 and moved to Four Corners in 2023, where he later worked on investigations into the criminal underworld, including drug trafficking into Australia and the heroin trade in South-East Asia. His departure closes a dispute that had lingered for months around outside work, a short-lived podcast and the line between freelance media ventures and the obligations of a public broadcaster.

The case centred on Word on the Street, a podcast Fazal launched in September with Ryan Naumenko, a self-styled media cowboy who claims a long criminal history. The show lasted only two episodes, but it quickly became controversial after sponsorship from online crypto casino Vegastars, and after Naumenko publicly alleged that Fazal had not told the ABC about his paid role and had asked to be paid in cash to hide the money from his employer.

Fazal rejected that account and said the money he was paid was intended to fund the production crew. An ABC spokesperson said at the time that the podcast did not receive the final approvals required under the broadcaster’s external work guidelines. Former Four Corners boss Matthew Carney had initially endorsed the project, but that support was withdrawn after the first episode aired with the casino sponsorship attached.

The internal inquiry examined Fazal’s external work request and his appearance on the podcast, but it did not go further into the feud between Fazal and Naumenko. That leaves the broadcaster’s finding focused on process rather than the wider claims made by the podcast’s co-host, even as the episode has now ended with Fazal out of the corporation entirely.

The unresolved background around Fazal has also helped keep the story in view. In 2024, he was alleged to have passed on threats to YouTuber Jordan Shanks, known as FriendlyJordies, after police received a report but took no action against him. Fazal denied wrongdoing at the time, and those allegations were not part of the ABC investigation that led to his dismissal.

An ABC spokesperson said: “Mahmood Fazal is no longer employed at the ABC. We do not comment on individual staff matters.” The broadcaster has now moved to draw a line under a case that mixed editorial rules, outside media work and a public row over cash, sponsorship and disclosure — but the reputational damage arrived long before the final decision.

Fazal’s exit also underlines how quickly side projects can turn into workplace problems when a journalist’s outside work intersects with the same subject matter they cover on air. For the ABC, the judgment is already made. For Fazal, the larger question is how much of his recent media venture can survive after a finding that it crossed the broadcaster’s rules.