A sacked ABC crime reporter has unloaded on the broadcaster and former colleagues, saying they had betrayed his sources and that leaked claims about his work practices were “complete f***ing bulls***”.Mahmood Fazal, a former Mongols bikie turned award-winning journalist, lost his job at Four Corners in May following an investigation into his appearance on a podcast with Outlaw Media’s Ryan Naumenko last year.Fazal’s links to the underworld gave him rare access to organised crime sources for his stories, something he said had now been weaponised against him.“I’ve been trying to stay quiet and do my own thing and … just move on with my life,” he said in a video shared on Instagram on Tuesday evening.“But they just keep going on attacking me, my work, my sources and apparently I’m the one that’s betrayed the ABC. I mean seriously.”The ABC on Friday announced two of his stories from 2023 and 2024 – Cocaine Nation and Meth Highway – were withdrawn due to “concerns identified about the veracity of certain sources used in both programs”.It was revealed on Monday those concerns included allegations the same person appeared in each episode wearing masks and using two different names.“Former colleagues of mine at the ABC have leaked multiple confidential sources to all these journalists,” Fazal said of stories appearing in the Nine Newspapers and on Media Watch.“Sources who should have been kept guarded at the highest levels of Four Corners.“My access to these kinds of sources is why they hired me. They’ve said it themselves. They used me to tell the kinds of stories they wanted. “And then when the new bosses come in, I’ve become a target and they’ve decided to make the reason they hired me a reason to throw doubt over all of my journalism. “They’re not saying what we put to air was wrong because they know it wasn’t, they’re claiming the fact that I knew these sources is what was wrong, which I declared at the beginning of the episode. “I got the access because I know these people, and I know the kinds of places they come from because I come from the same kind of background.”At a Senate hearing on the day of Fazal’s sacking, ABC managing director Hugh Marks confirmed it was related to his work on the short-lived Word on the Streets podcast with Naumenko.“We conducted an investigation into matters that were raised about Mr Fazal in relation to an external work request that me made to the ABC,” Mr Marks said.“That investigation has now been completed … and as a result of that investigation, Mr Fazal is no longer employed by the ABC.”The podcast imploded after two episodes and Naumekno later made a series of unsubstantiated claims against Fazal, including that he demanded to be paid in cash for his work.In another controversy, FriendlyJordies producer Kristo Langker accused Fazal of passing on threats to him on behalf of the Alameddine crime network regarding a video about the gang.Fazal has strongly denied wrongdoing in relation to both matters.Mr Marks and editorial director Gavin Fang both defended Fazal’s hiring for the network’s flagship program in light criticism of his past life as sergeant-at-arms of the Mongols.Mr Fang said Fazal had been upfront about his past organised crime connections, and Mr Marks said “people are able to move on” with their lives.Fazal on Tuesday said he had believed “I had a friendly, nice relationship with my colleagues at the ABC” before reading media reports one had reported him to police and another said they “didn’t want to be seen to complain about the Brown reporter”.He defended his record as a journalist, saying he had spent a decade reporting on organised crime, terrorism, the justice system and intelligence agencies.Fazal said he was hired by Four Corners as a Walkley-Award winning journalist having spent years filing for other ABC platforms. “I didn’t just tear off my patches and waltz in there and get ushered upstairs. And now that they got rid of me, I’m reduced to a f***ing diversity hire,” he said.“Or is it really about people like me having no place in telling the public at different sides of the story?”The Melbourne-based journalist said “one of the strangest” claims to be made against him was “that I somehow operate it in secret” or avoided proper scrutiny.“That’s complete f***ing bulls***,” he said.“If they can say hand on heart, I held court over those script and editorial meetings, I honestly don’t know how these people sleep at night. “Investigative journalism is one of the most scrutinised forms of reporting. Producers challenge you, fact-checkers challenge you, lawyers challenge you. “Your bosses challenge you if there were questions about a source or a fact, we hashed it out internally at the time and made a call.”Nine Newspapers reported this week Fazal was now suing the ABC for unfair dismissal.News.com.au has contacted Fazal’s legal representatives, and the ABC declined to comment.