Civil servant accused of working five govt jobs at once, used makeup to fake illness

PTC Web Desk: A 55-year-old civil servant in the UK is on trial for allegedly doing several full-time government jobs at the same time and earning close to £350,000 in the process. Prosecutors say he took advantage of work-from-home rules and used sick leave to keep it all going.

Kashim Chowdhury, who lives in Whitechapel, east London, has pleaded not guilty to nine counts of fraud. The case is being heard at Southwark Crown Court.

183 hours of work in a 168-hour week

The court was told that between February 2020 and September 2023, Chowdhury was paid by eight different employers. By May 2023, he was on the payroll of five organisations at the same time.

Prosecutors said his combined contracts added up to 183 hours a week. A week only has 168 hours.

According to the court, Chowdhury started at Tower Hamlets Council in February 2020. In April 2021, he took a second job at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and held both roles for over a year. In 2022, he also spent four months at East London NHS Trust.

He later left the council but stayed on at Defra. He then took up roles at 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 say he hid his other jobs from the employers who hired him.

Sick leave and 'caring for his mother'

Prosecutor Lucy Organ told the jury that Chowdhury relied on sick leave to manage the load. She said he made use of remote working, which became common during the Covid-19 pandemic and stayed in place afterwards.

The court heard he said he had mixed anxiety and depressive disorder, though he did not give sick notes to every employer. He also allegedly told some employers he needed to work from home because his mother was unwell.

Prosecutors said the workload eventually became too much, which is when he began taking sick leave from some of the jobs.

The video call that went wrong

In May 2023, Aleesha Adams, his manager at UKHSA, set up a video call to talk about his repeated absences. She told the court he seemed to have put makeup on his face to look ill. During the call, it began to separate on his forehead and showed his natural skin underneath. She also noticed his face and neck were different shades.

Prosecutor Lucy Organ said there was no doubt he had worn makeup to fool his manager, calling it an almost laughable moment that showed how far he would go to deceive.

Prosecutors added that he joined the call using his Defra email address. When asked about it, he reportedly said it could have been an old address.

The trial is still going on.

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