A man accused of raking in almost £350,000 by fraudulently juggling multiple government jobs has responded to the allegations for the first time.
Kashim Chowdhury, 55, allegedly lied about his employment status in order to bag a string of overlapping full-time roles across government departments and public bodies, prosecutors said.
Between February 2020 and September 2023, prosecutors said Chowdhury, from Whitechapel, earned almost £350,000 from eight employers, including more than £280,000 in gross pay from employers for months when he had more than one full-time job.
Prosecutors told Southwark Crown court that he ‘exploited’ the work-from-home culture which began during the Covid-19 pandemic to hide his multiple jobs.
He is also accused of taking sick leave from some employers to manage the work load and surprising his manager after putting on white makeup for a video call as he ‘pretended’ to be ill.
The defendant denies nine counts of fraud.
Kashim Chowdhury, 55, is accused of lying about his employment status (James Manning/PA Wire)
Defendant speaks out for the first time
On Wednesday (21 October), Chowdhury told the court that around May and June 2022, his mother’s health ‘deteriorated’, describing it as ‘overwhelming’.
Defence barrister Pieter Briegel asked: “In a nutshell, what impact did her declining health have on you?”
The defendant replied: “The only word that comes to my head is it just destroyed me.”
“The jobs at the time were my lifeline at the time, that was what I survived on at that particular moment.
Southwark Crown Court (Getty Stock)
“And they gave me a link to the outside, they were the only thing I had to the outside world and were a distraction from what was going on in my personal life, looking after my mum at that time.”
The court previously heard that Chowdhury was signed off work by a doctor for some jobs due to ‘mixed anxiety and a depressive disorder’.
Asked about this, Chowdhury said: “I never wanted to go on sick leave… I just wanted to carry on working… it was my coping mechanism at that time.”
Chowdhury accused of being contracted to ‘more hours than a week’
During the trial opening last week, the court heard that he began working for Tower Hamlets Council in February 2020, before taking a second job with Defra in April 2021, with the two roles overlapping for more than a year.
For four months in 2022, he also then held a third position with East London NHS Trust, a court heard.
And after leaving the council, prosecutors say Chowdhury continued working for Defra while gaining further jobs with 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.
Kashim Chowdhury (James Manning/PA Wire)
In May 2023, he was allegedly being paid for five full-time jobs and was contracted to work 183 hours a week, which is more hours than actually exist in seven days.
Prosecutor Lucy Organ told jurors that 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 that 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.
He then allegedly took sick leave from some jobs while continuing to work in his other positions.
The trial continues.
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