Civil Servant Accused of Earning Over £280,000 by Holding Five Government Jobs Simultaneously

Kashim Chowdhury, 55, stands accused of defrauding multiple government agencies by securing and holding five concurrent full-time positions, a London court was told. Between February 2020 and September 2023, Chowdhury is alleged to have held a total of eight different jobs, accumulating earnings of £349,378 before the alleged fraud was discovered. Prosecutors stated that at the peak of his alleged deception, Chowdhury was contracted to work 183 hours per week across five full-time roles.

During virtual meetings, Chowdhury often kept his camera off, citing IT issues. His former line manager at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), Dan McCartney, testified that Chowdhury's work performance was consistently poor and required significant oversight. "I had to tell him what to do. I would have expected him to be self-sufficient," McCartney told the court.

McCartney also expressed disagreement with a decision to make Chowdhury a permanent staff member, noting it was against policy for individuals not meeting performance standards. He recalled having to repeatedly push Chowdhury to resolve his IT problems so he could enable his camera for meetings, a process that took several months.

When asked if Chowdhury had ever disclosed any other employment, McCartney stated he had not. At his £52,000-a-year role at Defra, Chowdhury was reportedly described as "ineffective" and had attributed his struggles to his mother's cancer diagnosis. Chowdhury denies nine counts of fraud and the trial is ongoing.