A former civil servant has been found guilty of nine fraud offences after holding overlapping jobs with public sector employers between February 2020 and September 2023.
A jury at Southwark Crown Court unanimously found Kashim Chowdhury guilty of eight counts of fraud by false representation and one count of fraud by failure to disclose after seven hours of deliberation. The court heard he held jobs with eight public sector employers, including Tower Hamlets Council, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Home Office.
Overlapping roles and concealed employment
At one point, Chowdhury was contracted to work 183 hours a week. The roles each paid between £38,000 and £53,000 a year, and he fraudulently earned nearly £285,000.
The prosecution said he gave inaccurate information about his employment status on application forms and did not tell employers about his other jobs. It argued he used remote working to manage overlapping roles and often used sick leave to conceal his other employment. By spring 2023, he had five concurrent jobs, including roles at Defra, the Department of Health and Social Care, the UK Health Security Agency, the Department for Business and Trade and the Food Standards Agency.
During a 2023 virtual meeting about long-term sickness in his UKHSA role, his manager noticed make-up on Chowdhury’s face that appeared intended to make him look unwell, and saw he had joined using a Defra email address. Managers described his performance as “largely ineffective” and “exceptionally poor”. Chowdhury said he had not been thinking clearly when applying for jobs, citing stress, distress and trauma.
Prosecution and recovery of earnings
The Crown Prosecution Service said it would seek to reclaim the fraudulent earnings through the Proceeds of Crime Act. The judge said Chowdhury faced a “very significant” custodial sentence.
The case has been cited as an example of concerns about employees exploiting remote working arrangements to hold multiple jobs at the same time.
Original Source: https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/kashim-chowdhury-working-multiple-jobs-at-the-same-time-fraud-guilty-verdict/
