Kashim Chowdhury, a 55-year-old British civil servant, has been charged with nine counts of fraud for working five government jobs at the same time and using remote work and sick leave to get free time when the workload became too heavy.
Mr Chowdhury allegedly received £350,000 in salaries from eight employers between February 2020 and September 2023.
Prosecutors claimed Mr Chowdhury exploited the remote working culture to secure five full-time jobs in the public sector without disclosing his employment status to any of his employers.
He got a job with Tower Hamlets Council in February 2020. In April 2021, he was again hired by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). In April 2022, he got a third job with the East London NHS Trust, where he worked for four months before leaving the role.
He was later employed by 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, prosecutors claimed.
By May 2023, he had five employers, and by September 2023, he had received salaries from eight employers.
Prosecutor Lucy Organ said Mr Chowdhury requested to work from home under the pretext of caring for his “unwell” mother.
When his UKHSA supervisor, Aleesha Adams, scheduled a video meeting to address his performance and constant absences, she claimed Mr Chowdhury wore make-up to look ill. But as the meeting progressed, Ms Adams claimed the make-up wore off and creased on his forehead, revealing his real skin.
“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,” Ms Organ claimed. “This almost laughable incident demonstrates, we say, quite how far the defendant was willing to go in his deceit.”
He also used his Defra email to join another organisation’s virtual meeting.
Jurors at Southwark Crown Court were told Mr Chowdhury lost some of the jobs due to “mixed anxiety and a depressive disorder” after his performance waned.
Mr Chowdhury pleaded not guilty to the nine counts of fraud, maintaining his innocence. He denied accusations of attempting to make dishonest gains.
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