The ABC’s Media Watch has revealed another long-running ABC program was allegedly duped after into broadcasting a fake guest supplied by former Four Corners journalist Mahmood Fazal.Mario Christodoulou, who is now the Executive Producer of Media Watch, was working as a producer for Radio National’s Background Briefing Program when it took advice from Mr Fazal conerning a masked underworld figure named ‘Remy’.Sydney rapper Charissa Habkouk now claims she agreed to pretend to be “Remy” as a favour for Mr Fazal.Ms Habkouk claims she appeared as ‘Remy’ on a Four Corners program “Cocaine Nation” in 2023, as an anonymous cocaine dealer who made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling drugs to Sydney’s elite.The episode, which was a ratings hit was pulled down after parts of it were found to have been staged with fake reporting.In the episode, ‘Remy’ is seen driving around with Mr Fazal in a Mercedes-AMG G 63, which retails from $368,400 to make her seem like a powerful underworld figure. However, according to Media Watch it was a rental car with taxpayers footing the bill.Ms Habkouk posted a video to social media within a year of the programme going to air, claiming the story she told on the programme was an invention.In the clip, which has only been publicly reported this week after the ABC discovered it, she said the Mercedes had a wedding hire car advert plastered across the back of it.“I played a role that they needed,” she said. “You know when people need roles played in certain docos and there’s people that look the part and fill it. Yeah, that’s what was happening.”Ms Habkouk told Media Watch she agreed to the stunt as a “favour to Mahmood (Fazal)”.“We had friends in common … he approached me on Instagram, ‘I need someone, do you know anyone?’ … and he said, ‘Would you be willing to do it?’” she said.“He said … this was his shot to secure his work at the ABC … if he could get this story up. I felt bad for him and I thought, why not?”Media Watch’s admission, Fazal hits backOn Monday the scandal deepened as Media Watch host Linton Besser revealed his own producer Mr Christodoulou was also part of the production team taken for a ride by Remy, and helped produce a long-form radio production featuring her.Media Watch said the program was approved by the executive producer, Fanou Filali. It says Mr Christodoulou was ‘second in charge’ but doesn’t explicitly say what role (if any) he played in clearing the program for broadcast.“A day before Four Corners aired its episode, Radio National’s long-running Background Briefing published an even more in-depth portrait of her life,” Besser said.“The Remy profile was approved for broadcast by Background Briefing’s Executive Producer Fanou Filali.“Second in charge was Mario Christodoulou, who is now Executive Producer of Media Watch, and who recused himself last week from all work on this story.”Besser said ABC communications officials failed to adequately respond to Media Watch’s questions before deleting the Four Corners and Background Briefing episodes.“Rather than addressing our extensive questions about fact-checking and verification, the ABC pulled down the Background Briefing episode and published a statement that revealed it had widened the net,” he said.Fazal has rejected any suggestion he fabricated sources.“I reject the allegations put to me and I will not speculate about the motivations of asource after they’ve been outed,” he said in a statement to the ABC.“I note that the allegation that a source was paid to fabricate their story has alreadybeen retracted. I ask that any further reporting accurately reflects that fact.“The suggestion that I needed this story to “cement” my position at the ABC is false.“At the time I was already contracted by the ABC on a permanent ongoing basis.Fazal said “there was no shortage of sources to film” for his Cocaine Highway piece, insisting his sources “were selected because they offered diverse experiences and perspectives”.“I reject the suggestion that I fabricated, staged or knowingly published informationthat I believed to be false. I stand by the integrity of my reporting and the editorialprocesses that underpinned both programs,” he added.ABC pulls down three programmesThe ABC revealed late last week it had removed another story featuring Fazal. The public broadcaster said they had removed the May 2023 Background Briefing audio program “Remy was 12 when she became a drug dealer” — understood to be the same radio episode featured in Media Watch this week.This is in addition to Four Corners episodes “Cocaine Nation” and “Meth Highway”, which were taken offline on July 24. It was revealed there were allegations the same person appeared in both episodes, using two different names while their face was obscured by a mask. Mr Fazal was sacked by the ABC in May after being the subject of an internal investigation into his podcast appearance with a former underworld figure in 2025. A spokesperson from the ABC said the action had been “taken following concerns identified about the veracity of sources used in the three programs”. “The ABC Ombudsman is already conducting an independent review of whether the Four Corners programs complied with the ABC’s editorial standards,” the announcement said.“All three stories were reported by the same journalist, who ceased employment with the ABC in May 2026.”The ABC said it was in an ongoing process to review other content produced by Mr Fazal to “ensure it meets ABC’s editorial standards”. The journalist took to Instagram on Tuesday to share his perspective on continued investigation into his work. “I’ve been trying to stay quiet and do my own thing and … just move on with my life,” he said. “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.”Mr Fazal said there have been consequences for his sources, who spoke to him with confidence in their confidentiality. “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,” he said.“Former colleagues of mine at the ABC have leaked multiple confidential sources to all these journalists,” Mr Fazal said in regards to reporting by Nine Newspapers and Media Watch.The journalist’s contract was terminated after investigation arising from Mr Fazal’s involvement on the Word on the Streets podcast with Ryan Naumenko. The Melbourne media personality alleged Mr Fazal had demanded to be paid in cash and the podcast fell apart after two episodes. Bad week for the ABC The fallout from Fazal’s episodes comes amid a bad week for the national broadcaster.One of the Albanese government’s most senior minister has slammed a widely-panned ABC skit seemingly denoting violence against mining magnate Gina Rinehart as “rubbish” and “pretty revolting”.The four-minute clip aired three weeks ago on its Race Around The World series.The segment ended with the voiceover message: “When the revolution comes, will you hide under the bed or will you know exactly how to shove a stick right up Gina Rinehart’s butthole, stirring it round, mixing her guts up nice and smooth, to make one big sausage roll to make something out of nothing”.Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has sent legal letters to the national broadcaster. The ABC initially stood behind the program, but has since referred it to their internal Ombudsman.On Sunday, Health Minister Mark Butler called out the program.While he admitted to not having seen the “skit”, Mr Butler said he had read reports about “the particular passage in it that people are offended by and it’s pretty revolting”.“It’s not the sort of thing I think we should see on TV, whether it’s News24, a commercial television station, or our public broadcaster,” he told News24.“Frankly, I understand the ombudsman within the ABC is investigating it. That’s appropriate at an independent public broadcaster. “But, you know, why do we have to see rubbish like this on our TVs? Regardless of who it’s about.“I have seen coverage of this episode, I understand the person responsible for it has apologised, but, at the end of the day, this sort of material shouldn’t be on our TVs.”The creator of the segment, contestant Kate McGuinness, apologised via the ABC on Thursday afternoon, saying she had no intention to incite violence and that here writing was “cartoonish and always satirical”.“Unfortunately, jokes do not land with everyone. Its purpose was never to be taken literally. I apologise to anyone I’ve offended,” she said.The ABC initially stood behind the programming, claiming it was “editorially justifiable”, but have since referred the matter to their internal Ombudsman.On Friday, Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting sent legal letters to ABC listing a series of civil and criminal breaches they claim arise from the segment and its airing.The company previously wrote to the ABC board a week earlier, requesting the segment be removed, a public apology be made, and an investigation into how it was able to be published be commissioned.News.com.au has reached out to the ABC for further comment.— with NewsWire