Civil servant who juggled five jobs says he was 'surprised' to be charged with fraud

Kashim Chowdhury, a 55-year-old civil servant from east London, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court on nine counts of fraud. He is accused of fraudulently earning more than £284,000 by holding eight overlapping full-time public sector jobs between 2020 and 2023 without telling his employers.

Chowdhury denies acting dishonestly or intending to make a dishonest gain. He told the jury he was "surprised" to be charged and said he operated "on auto pilot" and was "not thinking clearly" when he failed to disclose his multiple roles.

The defendant held concurrent contracts with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the UK Health Security Agency, the Department for Business and Trade, the Food Standards Agency, and the Home Office. Each job required full-time work and full-time pay. In May 2023, his combined contractual hours reached 183 hours per week, exceeding the total hours available in seven days.

Chowdhury claimed he agreed with employers to work flexibly on a "project or output based" arrangement, arranged informally through text messages. He said he worked from 7am to 8pm or 9pm on weekends to manage the workload. He cited caring for his elderly mother and mental health issues as additional pressures.

The prosecution alleges Chowdhury exploited remote working arrangements to keep his jobs secret and that he used sick leave strategically. In March 2023, he started at the Home Office while on sick leave from three other positions.

A line manager at the UK Health Security Agency, Aleesha Adams, testified she was surprised during a May 2023 video call when Chowdhury appeared wearing white make-up. She told the court the make-up appeared to rub off during the meeting. Chowdhury denied wearing make-up, calling the allegation "a smear" and attributing his appearance to anxiety and depression for which he had submitted a sick note.

The prosecution alleges Chowdhury used text-message agreements to justify the irregular arrangement, but said the phones containing those messages went missing during an investigator search of his house.