Civil Servant Faces Jail After Secretly Working Five Government Jobs At Once And Earning Over £280,000

A 56-year-old British civil servant has been found guilty of fraud after secretly holding multiple full-time government jobs and earning more than £284,000 in taxpayers’ money.

Kashim Chowdhury, from east London, was convicted of nine fraud offences after concealing his existing employment from government departments while securing additional positions.

The jury reached its unanimous verdict after seven hours of deliberations, finding him guilty of eight counts of fraud by false representation and one count of fraud by failing to disclose information.

Government Payroll Checks Expose Employment Scheme

According to BBC, Chowdhury’s activities came to light in 2024 through the National Fraud Initiative, a government programme that examines public sector databases, including payroll records, to identify possible fraud.

Investigations established that he had held eight full-time public sector positions between 2020 and 2023, with several employment periods overlapping.

In the spring of 2023, he was employed by multiple government institutions, including Defra, the Department of Health and Social Care, UKHSA, the Department for Business and Trade, the Food Standards Agency and the Home Office.

His combined contractual working hours during this period amounted to 183 hours a week, an arrangement that prosecutors said was made possible by concealing his other jobs.

Employers Were Kept In The Dark

The court heard that Chowdhury misrepresented his employment circumstances when applying for positions and did not disclose his existing government jobs to new employers.

He was also able to work remotely after telling his employers that he needed to care for his mother, who had dementia and was later diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2023.

Evidence from his former managers raised questions about how he managed his responsibilities across the different organisations.

At Defra, manager Dan McCartney said he frequently had to guide Chowdhury through his duties. He also recalled that the employee regularly switched off his camera during video meetings, blaming technical problems.

At UKHSA, manager Aleesha Adams became suspicious during a May 2023 video meeting arranged to discuss his return after three months of sick leave.

Adams alleged that Chowdhury appeared to be using white make-up to make himself look ill. She noticed that it began coming off as the meeting progressed, an allegation he denied.

She also discovered that he had joined the meeting using a Defra email address rather than his UKHSA account. His explanation that this was a technical error did not satisfy her, and she escalated her concerns.

Chowdhury Defends Decision To Take Multiple Jobs

During the trial, Chowdhury argued that his actions were influenced by fears about financial security and losing his livelihood.

He told the court that he had experienced employment difficulties in the past, including being made redundant from a Department for Education position in 2013.

He also said he had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and that stress, distress and trauma had affected his judgement when applying for additional jobs.

However, prosecutor Lucy Organ challenged his account, accusing him of lying while giving evidence under oath.

Sarah Melo, a specialist prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service’s Serious Economic Organised Crime and International Directorate, described the conduct as sustained and deliberate dishonesty.

Faces Significant Prison Sentence

Chowdhury left the civil service in September 2023, but the investigation eventually resulted in his prosecution and conviction.

Following the verdict, the judge warned that he faced a very significant custodial sentence and refused to grant him bail, citing the seriousness of the offences and his own wellbeing.

Defra said Chowdhury had abused the trust placed in him as a public servant and indicated that it would pursue all available means of recovering the money obtained through his offending.