A civil servant convicted of fraud for holding up to five full-time Government jobs at once is facing an immediate jail term. Kashim Chowdhury, 56, from Whitechapel, east London, was found guilty of nine counts of fraud at Southwark Crown Court.
Between February 2020 and September 2023, Chowdhury earned almost £350,000 from eight employers. This includes more than £280,000 in gross pay from employers for months when he held more than one full-time job, jurors were told.
Court Remand and Sentencing Warning
Judge Mark Weekes remanded Chowdhury in custody on his birthday, telling him he faces an immediate custodial sentence. The prosecution suggested a starting point of five years, with a range between three and six years.
The judge told Southwark Crown Court on Monday: “It seems to me that in consequence of events over the last few weeks, unfortunately this is a defendant whose world from his point of view must appear to be collapsing around him.”
The sentence Chowdhury faces appears to offer “every incentive” to fail to surrender, he said, adding: “This is, I must remind myself, a defendant, even with restraint measures in place, with access to substantial funds”.
Guilty Verdict and Prosecution Response
Jurors found Chowdhury guilty after deliberating for about seven hours. The defendant wore a large grey knitted jumper and cut a forlorn figure as he stared blankly during proceedings.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it will seek to reclaim his fraudulent earnings through a proceeds of crime hearing.
Sarah Melo, specialist prosecutor at the CPS serious economic organised crime and international directorate, said after the verdicts Chowdhury had “deliberately concealed the true extent of his employment so that he could obtain and be paid for multiple full-time jobs at the same time”.
She added: “He repeatedly misrepresented the true nature of his employment status while continuing to receive full-time salaries from other public bodies.
“This was sustained and deliberate dishonesty. He knew he could not legitimately hold multiple full-time positions at the same time but continued to conceal what he was doing.
“His actions were motivated by financial gain, allowing him to receive multiple salaries through his fraudulent conduct, which we will now seek to reclaim through the Proceeds of Crime Act.”
How the Fraud Worked
During the trial, prosecutors said he “exploited” the work-from-home culture which began during the Covid-19 pandemic to hide his multiple jobs and took sick leave from some employers to manage the workload.
In one incident, described by prosecutor Lucy Organ as “laughable”, Chowdhury allegedly wore white make-up during a video call with his boss to seemingly appear ill, the court heard.
Chowdhury previously told the court work was his “lifeline”. He told the court that around May and June 2022, his mother's health “deteriorated”. He said: “That overwhelmed me at the time.”
During the trial opening, the court heard he began working for Tower Hamlets Council in February 2020, before taking a second job with Defra in April 2021. The two roles overlapped for more than a year, the court heard. For four months in 2022, he also held a third position with East London NHS Trust.
After leaving the council, prosecutors said Chowdhury continued working for Defra while gaining further jobs with the Department of Health and Social Care, the UK Health Security Agency, the Department for Business and Trade, the Food Standards Agency and the Home Office.
In May 2023, he was being paid for five full-time jobs, the court heard. At one point, he was contracted to work 183 hours a week – more hours than actually exist in seven days.
Prosecutor Lucy Organ told jurors Chowdhury made false representations about his existing employment when applying for the roles. “Clearly, he would not have been employed by his employers if they had known he had multiple other full-time jobs,” she said.
The court heard Chowdhury had told employers he had to work from home to care for his “unwell” mother. But Ms Organ said his workload eventually became “too much to cope with” and his performance suffered. The jury was told he then took sick leave from some jobs while continuing to work in his other positions.
