A civil servant has been found guilty of nine fraud charges after secretly holding five full-time public sector jobs simultaneously. Kashim Chowdhury, 56, from east London, fraudulently obtained more than £284,000 of taxpayer money by concealing his multiple roles from government departments.

The prosecution accused Chowdhury of "deliberate, intentional dishonesty" and "exploiting the system." The jury unanimously convicted him on eight counts of fraud by false representation and one count of fraud by failure to disclose after seven hours of deliberation. Between 2020 and 2023, Chowdhury held eight overlapping full-time public sector positions, accumulating a total of £350,000.

Court proceedings revealed that Chowdhury provided inaccurate information about his employment status on job applications and failed to disclose his existing civil service roles. Once employed, he did not inform his employers that he was working elsewhere. He claimed to be working from home to care for his mother, who had dementia and terminal cancer, but instead continued to take on additional jobs.

During the spring of 2023, in the final months of his mother's life, Chowdhury held positions at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), 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. At this time, he was reportedly contracted to work 183 hours per week, exceeding the total hours in a seven-day period.

Chowdhury's defense stated that his actions stemmed from a fear of job insecurity following a redundancy in 2013, which led to a PTSD diagnosis. He argued that stress, distress, trauma, and panic affected his judgment when applying for jobs. However, the prosecution barrister, Lucy Organ, countered that Chowdhury "lied to you in evidence, he's lied to you under oath, which demonstrates the level of deceit he has descended to."

Several managers testified to Chowdhury's poor performance. Dan McCartney, who managed Chowdhury at Defra, described needing to "effectively tell him what to do the whole time." McCartney also noted that Chowdhury frequently kept his camera off during video calls, citing technical issues, which persisted for four to five months. Despite this, McCartney indicated that Chowdhury remained in the role for two years due to a lack of formal performance measures.

The prosecution suggested Chowdhury used sick notes to manage his demanding schedule. In March 2023, records showed he was on sick leave from four of his multiple positions. The court heard he told the jury he had not worn makeup during a work video call.

Further details regarding sentencing and the full impact of the fraud are expected to be disclosed following this verdict. The case highlights significant vulnerabilities in public sector recruitment and oversight processes that allowed such an extensive overlap of employment to go undetected for an extended period.