Kashim Chowdhury, 56, from Whitechapel, east London, was found guilty of nine counts of fraud at Southwark Crown Court yesterday after holding down five full-time Civil Service jobs at the same time, earning £350,000 from eight employers in less than three years.
His contracts totalled 183 hours a week – more hours than exist in seven days – yet colleagues failed to notice. Managers reportedly thought he was useless but did not take action, and on one occasion gave him a permanent contract despite believing his work was “exceptionally poor” and that he was incapable of completing basic tasks.
White make-up video call farce
Prosecutors said he “exploited” the work-from-home culture in the Civil Service, meaning he rarely had to meet anyone in person. During one video call to discuss illness, Chowdhury, an Asian man, wore white make-up to look unwell, but as the call continued it began to melt away, revealing his natural colouring on his forehead. Despite this, he carried on, collecting thousands of pounds a month in taxpayers' cash.
Chowdhury started at Tower Hamlets Council in February 2020, then took a second job with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in April 2021, with the roles overlapping for more than a year. He went on to hold jobs at East London NHS Trust, 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.
System failures and "polygamous workers"
In May 2023, he was being paid for five full-time jobs simultaneously. He was caught not through investigations into his work, but because a public sector data-matching exercise raised an alert. The manager who recommended Chowdhury pass probation admitted he had done the “bare minimum” but was given the benefit of the doubt. Defra's policy meant fixed-term employees were made permanent unless they had gone through formal performance measures. Chowdhury kept his camera off during most work meetings, making it impossible to know what he was doing.
The case is an extreme example of so-called “polygamous workers” in the Civil Service, with more than 300 employees caught holding multiple public sector jobs since 2016. Alex Thomas, a former Defra director now at the Institute for Government think tank, believes performance would improve with compulsory redundancies to shed a “relatively small number” of the lowest performing staff. He admitted that even the civil service's “stoutest defenders” acknowledge it is “not very good at performance management” and said it was “near-impossible to actually dismiss anyone” for underperformance.
Overhaul promised
Cabinet Secretary Dame Antonia Romeo gave a speech today admitting the public has low levels of trust in the Civil Service and promised a “fundamental” overhaul. The article argues she must start by weeding out underperformers, introducing incentives, and ending the culture of turning a blind eye to failure, warning that taxpayers will continue to be fleeced by employees who abuse the system.
