A civil servant who has been accused of working five full-time jobs at the same time has said he met the demands of each role, despite being contracted to work more hours than there are in a week.
Kashim Chowdhury, 55, was at one stage contracted to work 183 hours a week, despite there being only 168 hours in seven days.
He is accused of nine counts of fraud, and had eight overlapping public sector jobs between 2020 and 2023.
In March 2023, Chowdhury began working for the Home Office - despite also holding full-time jobs with the UK Health Security Agency, Defra, the east London NHS foundation trust, and the Department for Business and Trade.
He was contractually obliged to work full time and was paid a full-time salary by each organisation, and is accused of fraudulently earning more than £284,000.
The court heard that he started the Home Office job while on sick leave from three of his other jobs.
He denies all of the charges.
Court artist drawing of Kashim Chowdhury appearing at Southwark Crown Court
PA
Appearing at Southwark Crown Court, he said that he had special arrangements with his managers that allowed him to complete tasks rather than work his contracted hours.
Lucy Organ, prosecuting, said: “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.”
He told the jury that he had agreements with his employers to work flexibly, which allowed him to complete projects during evenings and weekends.
He said this was agreed "informally" via text messages but the phones used to send the texts had gone missing when his house was searched by investigators.
Ms Organ retorted that Mr Chowdhury’s arrangements had been made as he was the sole carer for his elderly mother, not because his managers knew he had other jobs.
The prosecutor also challenged Mr Chowdhury over starting a Home Office job while on sick leave from Defra.
She asked: “If you were really unfit for work, how were you able to start your job at the Home Office?”
Civil servant Kashim Chowdhury, 54, arrives at Southwark Crown Court
PA
Mr Chowdhury said that he had arrangements in place and that he had told managers he did not want the Home Office job, but that working had helped him cope with his deteriorating mental health.
He denied using annual leave and sick leave in order to be able to cope with having the jobs concurrently, attributing severe anxiety and trauma to insecure employment and his mother’s health.
Aleesha Adams, his line manager at the UKHSA, previously told the court she was surprised that Mr Chowdhury appeared to be wearing white make-up during a video call in May 2023 to discuss his sick leave.
She told the court that as the meeting went on the make-up started coming off his forehead. ''He was sweating, it was like rubbing off so it was darker underneath and darker on the neck."
Chowdhury denied the allegation, saying: ''That's a smear, I've never worn make-up in my life.
“At that particular time, I was suffering from anxiety and depression. I had already submitted my sick note, there was no need to put on make-up.''