Civil servant ‘used remote working to fraudulently juggle jobs’

At one point, Kashim Chowdhury was contracted to work 183 hours a week for five jobs — more hours than actually exist in seven days, jurors at Southwark Crown Court were told.

The 55-year-old, from Whitechapel, east London, is accused of lying about his employment status to get a string of overlapping full-time roles across government departments and public bodies.

Between February 2020 and September 2023, Chowdhury earned almost £350,000 from eight employers, the court heard.

Prosecutors say Chowdhury “exploited” the work from home culture which began during the Covid-19 pandemic to hide his multiple jobs and took sick leave from some employers to manage the workload.

In one incident, described by prosecutor Lucy Organ as “laughable”, Chowdhury allegedly wore white make up during a video call with his boss to seemingly appear ill, the court heard.

The defendant denies nine counts of fraud.

During the opening of his trial on Tuesday, the court heard that he began working for Tower Hamlets Council in February 2020, before taking a second job with the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in April 2021.

The two roles overlapped for more than a year, the court heard.

For four months in 2022, he also held a third position with East London NHS Trust.

After leaving the council, prosecutors say Chowdhury continued working for Defra while gaining further jobs with the Department of Health and Social Care, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the Department for Business and Trade, the Food Standards Agency and the Home Office.

In May 2023, he was allegedly being paid for five full-time jobs.

Ms Organ told jurors that Chowdhury made false representations about his existing employment when applying for the roles.

“Clearly, he would not have been employed by his employers if they had known he had multiple other full-time jobs,” she said.

The court heard that Chowdhury had told employers he had to work from home to care for his “unwell” mother.

But Ms Organ said his workload eventually became “too much to cope with” and his performance suffered.

He then allegedly took sick leave from some jobs while continuing to work in his other positions.

The court heard that Chowdhury was signed off work for some jobs due to “mixed anxiety and a depressive disorder”, but did not hand his sick note to all his employers.

In May 2023, his UKHSA manager Aleesha Adams arranged a video call to discuss his recent sick leave.

At the time, prosecutors say, he was secretly holding five jobs.

Chowdhury appeared on camera “coughing and blowing his nose”, the court heard.

Ms Adams said that his face appeared white while his neck was a different colour, prosecutors say.

During the meeting she saw the make up on his forehead begin to separate, showing his real skin underneath, the court heard.

Ms Organ told jurors: “There could be no doubt about it, the defendant had applied make up to his face for this Teams meeting to try and pretend to his line manager that he was unwell.

“This almost laughable incident demonstrates, we say, quite how far the defendant was willing to go in his deceit.”

Chowdhury had also “messed up” by logging on to the meeting with a Defra email address, the court heard.

He allegedly said to Ms Adams that it could be an old address.

The prosecutor said this was a “lie” to conceal the fact he was working elsewhere at the same time.

Jurors heard that the alleged frauds came to light after the National Fraud Initiative alerted DEFRA to them.

Ms Organ said that between March 2020 and September 2023, Chowdhury had over £300,000 in credits into his three bank accounts and nearly £250,000 in debits.

The trial continues.