Civil servant 'fraudulently juggled five government jobs using remote work and sick notes'

A civil servant "exploited" remote working culture and used sick notes to fraudulently work five Government jobs at the same time, a court has heard.   

Kashim Chowdhury, from Whitechapel in east London, allegedly lied about his employment status to get various full-time roles across government departments and public bodies simultaneously.

The 55-year-old - who denies nine counts of fraud - started working for Tower Hamlets Council in February 2020 before taking a second job with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in April 2021, Southwark Crown Court heard on Tuesday.

He did the two jobs simultaneously for over a year, prosecutors said.

In 2022, Chowdhury also held a third position with East London NHS Trust for four months.

He left the council but continued to work for Defra and secured further jobs with 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 told the court.

Chowdhury was allegedly being paid for five full-time jobs in May 2023.

Between February 2020 and September 2023, he allegedly earned almost £350,000 from eight employers.

Prosecutor Lucy Organ said he used sick leave in certain roles to manage his workload and "exploited" remote working during and after the pandemic.

He allegedly told employers that he had to work from home to support his "unwell" mother.

However, Chowdhury's workload eventually became "too much to cope with" - at which point he started taking sick leave from certain roles, the court heard.

In May 2023, his UKHSA manager Aleesha Adams arranged a video call to address his absences.

Ms Adams claimed he was wearing make-up on his face to appear ill - which then started to separate on his forehead and showed his real skin underneath, the court heard.

Ms Organ said: "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.

"This almost laughable incident demonstrates, we say, quite how far the defendant was willing to go in his deceit."

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Chowdhury also "messed up" by logging on to the meeting with a Defra email address, the jury was told.

He allegedly said it could have been an old address, but the prosecutor called this a "lie".

The trial continues.

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