Civil servant 'earning £280,000 from FIVE government jobs at same time' didn't need performance review, bosses decided - and wore white make-up to look sick in online meeting, court hears

A civil servant accused of receiving £284,613 for five different full-time government jobs attended remote meetings with his camera off, a court heard.

Kashim Chowdhury, 55, lied repeatedly to work at the likes of the Food Standards Agency, the Home Office and the Department for Business and Trade, Southwark Crown Court was told.

He held eight different jobs, raking in £349,378, between February 2020 and September 2023 before the alleged fraud was dicovered.

At its peak, Chowdhury is believed to have been working in five full-time roles at the same time.

This led to him being contracted to work 183 hours a week - more than how many there are over seven days. 

When bosses became suspicious of his efforts, he claimed he was sick and at one point appeared in an online meeting with white make-up smeared over his face, jurors were told.

His line manager at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Dan McCartney, said that he felt Chowdhury's poor work rate merited a meeting about his performance.

When asked by prosecutor Lucy Organ, 'Did his work ever improve?' Mr McCartney said: 'No.' 

And he told the court that he needed to monitor Chowdhury's output 'much more than I would expect to do for someone of his grade'.

Mr McCartney added: 'I had to tell him what to do. I would have expected him to be self-sufficient.'

The witness said he did not agree with a decision to make Chowdhury a permanent member of staff.

Mr McCartney said: 'It is policy to make people with fixed term contracts permanent if they weren't in performance measures.

'I wasn't in agreement with it but I was told that it was something that would have to happen.'

He said that Chowdhury would attend virtual meetings with his computer camera off and that he told him to get it fixed.

'It is important, I think, if you are running a team, that people are present and have their camera on.

'I asked him to switch it on. He said he had IT problems with his laptop and I asked him to resolve it so that the camera worked.

'It took quite a long time. I had to really push him. I told him that he could take time out to ensure that this thing is resolved.

'That took quite a few months to make it happen, but it did happen.'

Ms Organ asked: 'Did he ever tell you he had any other employment other than with Defra?' Mr McCartney replied: 'No.'

At his £52,000-a-year job at Defra, Chowdhury was described as 'ineffective' but told his employers he was struggling because his mother was diagnosed with cancer.

Chowdhury, of Whitechapel in east London, denies nine counts of fraud. 

The trial continues.

• READ MORE: Civil servant used remote working to fraudulently hold down FIVE government jobs at the same time, court told