Mahmood Fazal, a Walkley award-winning journalist and former Mongols bikie sergeant at arms, is no longer employed by the ABC after an investigation into his appearance on a podcast sponsored by an online casino.

The ABC’s managing director, Hugh Marks, told Senate estimates on Thursday that Fazal’s employment had been “terminated” following the probe. “It’s inappropriate for me to go into the details,” Marks said, before going into enough detail to confirm Fazal was no longer on the payroll.

The podcast in question, about underworld crime, was produced by Melbourne’s Ryan Naumenko, a man who once associated with the mafia - as one does when producing content about organized crime. Fazal got initial approval to participate, but that approval was withdrawn after the first episode featured gambling advertisements. Because nothing says “journalistic integrity” like a casino-sponsored crime podcast.

Fazal, who joined the ABC as a reporter in 2021 and moved to Four Corners in 2023, had been on leave during the investigation. Marks was careful to note that the probe did not concern Fazal’s past with organized crime - just his present with gambling-adjacent media.

Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson used the opportunity to question Four Corners’ hiring standards, to which Marks replied, “People are able to move on in their careers,” which is HR-speak for “we hired a former bikie to cover organized crime, and it mostly worked.”

In a statement through lawyer Rebekah Giles, Fazal said he believed he had his manager’s approval to do the interview. His last Four Corners episode, on the sovereign citizen movement, aired in August - a fitting swan song for a reporter whose own employment situation now echoes the theme of people refusing to recognize legitimate authority.