A civil servant accused of secretly holding multiple public sector jobs at the same time told the court he was ‘in a panic’ and ‘not thinking straight’ when he allegedly failed to disclose his existing roles to new employers. Kashim Chowdhury, 55, from east London, faces nine counts of fraud, which he denies, according to BBC News.
Chowdhury told the jury he was worried about losing his post at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) when he applied for a further role at the Department of Health and Social Care, without telling that department he was already employed. He said he had not been ‘paying attention’ when filling out the application.
Five jobs, 183 contracted hours a week
Prosecutors say that by the spring of 2023, Chowdhury was being paid full-time salaries by five government employers at once: Defra, the UK Health Security Agency, the Food Standards Agency, the Department for Business and Trade, and the Home Office. At that point, according to the prosecution, his combined contracts required him to work 183 hours a week, more than the total number of hours in seven days. In one month in 2023, he received £11,000 in combined pay.
Prosecutors further allege that Chowdhury was also employed at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and East London NHS Trust at earlier points during the alleged scheme. Reporting in October 2026, the Times of India cited the prosecution’s case that Chowdhury held eight different jobs in total between February 2020 and September 2023, allegedly earning £349,378 before the alleged fraud was discovered. The Hindustan Times, also reporting in October 2026, noted that prosecutors told the court his employment began at Tower Hamlets Council in February 2020, with a second position at Defra added in April 2021, and that he held both roles simultaneously for more than a year.
Remote working and family pressures
The prosecution alleges that Chowdhury was able to keep his overlapping roles hidden because he worked entirely from home, exploiting remote working arrangements that became widespread during the Covid-19 pandemic. Prosecutors say he also used sick leave from some employers to manage the demands of multiple jobs.
Chowdhury offered a different account of how the situation developed. He told the jury: ‘I sent out a flurry of these applications. The offers for these jobs came all at once. I had discussions with my line managers saying that I did not want these jobs and explained my circumstances. These were all short term and probationary and my priority was to look after my mother.’
He described how his mother’s health deteriorated around May and June 2022, saying: ‘That overwhelmed me at the time. It just destroyed me.’ Chowdhury called the jobs his ‘lifeline at the time’, adding that ‘they gave me a link to the outside world and were a distraction from what was going on in my personal life, looking after my mum at that time.’
Chowdhury informed his employers that he was solely responsible for caring for his elderly mother, a fact the prosecution alleges he ‘exploited’. Chowdhury denies acting dishonestly or intending to make a dishonest gain. The trial continues.
