Pictured: The 'fraudster' civil servant who 'earned £280,000 juggling FIVE government jobs at the same time'

This is the civil servant accused of fraudulently juggling five full-time government jobs while working from home.

Kashim Chowdhury, 55, is accused of lying about his employment in order to rack up additional roles with various unwitting departments including the Home Office, Defra, and the Department of Health and Social Care.

He allegedly told bosses he needed to work from home to look after his elderly mother, and used sick notes to juggle his workload across various roles.

And he apparently put the phone down on his boss at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and accused her of 'badgering' him when she called to chastise him for his shoddy work.

The court heard Chowdhury earned nearly £350,000 from eight employers over a period of three years, and he was paid more than £280,000 in gross pay from employers for months where he had more than one full-time job.

At one point, Chowdhury was contracted to work 183 hours a week across his various jobs – more than the 168 hours that actually exist in seven days, jurors were told.

He was pictured emerging from his mid-terrace home just off trendy Brick Lane in east London this morning – where homes sell for millions of pounds.

He was carrying a supermarket carrier bag, before fixing a face covering and making his way to court.

One of these jobs was at the UKHSA, where his work during his seven-month stint between 2022 and 2023 was described by his project line manager as 'very poor'.

Colleague Carol Hedland told Southwark Crown Court today: 'I would describe his conduct, attitude, productivity, performance and obviously attendance as being very poor.

'The work that was produced was of substandard quality.'

She said one report he produced appeared to be 'very incomplete' and had sections which had been copied and pasted, which caused her to spend five hours knocking it into shape.

She told jurors: 'I discussed the report with Mr Chowdhury afterwards, how poor it was, and on the call Mr Chowdhury put the phone down on me and said, quotes, I was "badgering him".'

She said she could only recall seeing him on camera 'possibly once, no more than twice', as he worked remotely.

She said: 'Most times the camera was off and Kashim Chowdhury said it was due to laptop issues he had logged. But that seemed to go on for quite a while.'

She said he also took two weeks' holiday around two months into his role, despite working on a time-sensitive project, and went on sick leave shortly after.

Another UK HSA colleague described how she became concerned with Chowdhury's appearance on a video call while he was on sick leave.

Line manager Aleesha Adams told the court: 'He was coughing, blowing his nose, saying he was really ill, he was holding up the tissues for the camera to show how ill he was.

'I was surprised to see he was wearing what I thought was white make-up.'

She said this then appeared to come off as he sweated.

When Chowdhury was at work, he 'struggled with basic tasks,' she said.

Defence counsel Pieter Briegel suggested to Miss Adams she was 'mistaken' and that his client was not wearing make-up. But she disagreed. 

Another former colleague, at the Home Office, described how Chowdhury's performance was not up to scratch.

Richard Arkless told jurors: 'I was made aware that he was missing Teams meetings for unknown reasons.

'Someone of his grade shouldn't really be struggling.'

They had a review three months into his probation period, during which Chowdhury was said to be 'incredibly rude'.

Mr Arkless said: 'He said all offers of help were just for show, he wasn't interested in the job. 

'He then went on sick again. He had not improved his conduct, in fact it diminished.'

The court heard Chowdhury’s employment with the Home Office ended shortly after.

Prosecutor Lucy Organ told jurors the defendant 'obtained and held a series of full-time employments in the civil service and associated public bodies at the same time'.

She said: 'By that I mean he obtained and had more than one full-time job at the same time and was being paid for more than one full-time job at the same time.

'He achieved this – having concurrent full-time jobs - by making false representations, false declarations, concerning his existing employment status and employment history.

'He had to because if he told a respective employer he had a full-time job, they wouldn't have given him another one, would they?

'He also made, the prosecution say, continuing implied false representations by having a full-time job and not revealing to his employers that he had other full-time employment.

'In fact members of the jury, you will hear evidence that at times he positively lied about his employment history and having other full-time jobs.

'He concealed that he had multiple simultaneous employments from his employers.

'As a result, he was paid for multiple full-time jobs at the same time.

'We say those jobs were obtained by false representation – fraud – and made a financial gain for himself from this fraud. '

His alleged fraud started in June 2020 - three months after the Covid pandemic struck - when he was applying for jobs in government departments despite working full-time for the local council.

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.

Jurors heard that the alleged frauds came to light after the National Fraud Initiative began investigating.

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

The court heard he also worked for the Department of Business and Trade, the Food Standards Agency, the East London NHS Trust and Tower Hamlets council.

He appeared in the dock wearing a purple open-neck shirt and a dark jacket.

The trial is due to last for around three weeks.