Multi-job civil servant admits being contracted to work 183 hours a week was 'impossible' ... given there are only 168 in seven days

A civil servant who worked five jobs at once has admitted it was 'impossible' for him to work his contracted hours which were higher than the amount of hours in a week. 

Kashim Chowdhury, 55, is accused of exploiting the post-Covid work-from-home culture to take on multiple roles from unwitting government departments. 

Between February 2020 and September 2023, Chowdhury allegedly lied so he could secure the multiple overlapping jobs across the civil service.

He worked at departments including the Food Standards Agency, the Home Office and Department for Business and Trade earning an eye-watering salary of £349,378 in the process, Southwark Crown Court heard.  

At the peak of his employment, he was contracted to work a staggering 183 hours a week - despite there being only 168 hours across seven days.

Today, he told the court that he had special arrangements with his managers which allowed him to complete tasks rather than work his contracted hours. 

Prosecutor Lucy Organ said: 'Mr Chowdhury, in May you were contracted to work for 183 hours a week. It is more hours than exist in a week. It was impossible to work the number of hours you were contracted.'

He replied: 'Yes, it is impossible.'

Ms Organ suggested his ability to fulfil his duties at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) must therefore have been affected.

'I do not agree,' Chowdhury replied.

The court heard, between January 19 and April 15, 2022, Chowdhury had three overlapping jobs at Tower Hamlets Council, Defra and the East London NHS Foundation Trust.

He was contracted to work a combined 110 hours a week across the three positions.

'Were you managing to do that?' Ms Organ asked.

'On paper that is an impossibility, but in practice different arrangements were made,' Chowdhury replied.

'The work was not time based. It was mainly outputs based.'

He claimed his managers had agreed to flexible working arrangements which allowed him to complete projects during evenings and weekends.

'But the flexible working you're referring to was because of your caring responsibilities for your mum, wasn't it?' Ms Organ asked.

'Yes, that's correct.'

Ms Organ asked: 'It wasn't because these managers knew you had other jobs?'

'That's correct,' Chowdhury replied.

He claimed evidence of the arrangements had been stored on devices which were subsequently lost during the investigation.

Questioned about his working hours at Defra, he said they had been reduced to 34 hours a week.

'Did you work 34 hours a week for Defra?' Ms Organ asked.

'No, I did not,' he replied.

Ms Organ asked Chowdhury to estimate how many hours he worked at Defra a week.

To which Chowdhury said: 'I did not record any time. I just worked on the products to deliver them.'

Ms Organ also challenged Chowdhury about his failure to disclose overlapping employment to his managers.

'I suggest the reason you lied by omission is because you wanted to make a gain for yourself, in that you wanted to be paid for all three full-time jobs at the same time,' she said.

To which he said: 'I disagree.'

Ms Organ pressed him on whether he now considered it acceptable to hold multiple full-time jobs simultaneously.  

'I would think it is contractually not acceptable,' Chowdhury replied.

But when asked by Ms Organ if this was dishonest, he said no.

He also admitted that an employment declaration stating he had finished working at Tower Hamlets in June 2020 had subsequently become false because he remained employed there.

'The declaration became false, didn't it, Mr Chowdhury?' Ms Organ asked.

Chowdhury replied: 'It was contractually false.'

Ms Organ: 'In all ways it was false?'

Chowdhury replied: 'Yes.'

Ms Organs said: 'And the reason it became false is because you never corrected it, did you?'

Chowdhury said: 'That is correct.'

He denied deliberately leaving the false information uncorrected to secure two full-time jobs.

Chowdhury also accepted that he had not told Defra manager Fiona Charlesworth that his Tower Hamlets employment was full-time.

'Yes, because you thought you would lose your jobs if they found out you had two at the same time?' Ms Organ asked.

'Yes,' he replied.

The prosecutor also challenged Chowdhury over starting a Home Office job while on sick leave from Defra.

'If you were really unfit for work, how were you able to start your job at the Home Office?' she asked.

Chowdhury said he had arrangements in place and had initially told managers he did not want the Home Office job.

'Why not submit a sick note to all employers?' Ms Organ asked.

'Not all the employers insisted I get a sick note,' he replied.

He claimed working had helped him cope with his deteriorating mental health.

'I wanted to carry on working because it was a coping mechanism,' he said.

'I suggest you used annual leave and sick leave in order to be able to cope with having these jobs concurrently,' Ms Organ said.

'That is incorrect,' Chowdhury replied.

He maintained that he had suffered severe anxiety and trauma because of insecure employment and his mother's declining health.

The court heard yesterday that Chowdhury claimed he needed to work remotely to look after his elderly mother and took sick leave to manage his workload.

He allegedly put 'crumbling' white make-up on his face when his bosses became suspicious about his work, an accusation he denied on Thursday.

Chowdhury told the court he had not deliberately made a performance of coughing or blowing his nose during the meeting and had genuinely been ill.

Chowdhury, of Whitechapel, denies nine counts of fraud.

The trial continues.