UK civil servant discovered responsible of fraud for having over 5 jobs concurrently

A civil servant who secretly held a number of authorities jobs concurrently has been discovered responsible of 9 counts of fraud.

Kashim Chowdhury, 56, from east London, was convicted after a jury discovered him responsible of eight counts of fraud by false illustration and one depend of fraud by failing to reveal info.

He was accused of fraudulently incomes greater than £284,000 in taxpayers’ cash.

According to a BBC report printed on Monday, Nov. 9, the jury reached its unanimous verdict after seven hours of deliberation.

Chowdhury held 5 authorities jobs on the similar time within the spring of 2023, though he had secured eight overlapping full-time public sector roles between 2020 and 2023, incomes a complete of £350,000.

The prosecution accused him of “deliberate, intentional dishonesty” and “exploiting the system”.

The courtroom heard that Chowdhury offered inaccurate details about his employment standing on job software varieties and didn’t open up to authorities departments that he was already employed elsewhere.

After securing the positions, he additionally failed to tell his employers that he was working for different organisations.

Among the organisations the place he labored have been the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department of Health and Social Care, the UK Health Security Agency, the Department for Business and Trade, the Food Standards Agency and the Home Office.

During the spring of 2023, he was contracted to work 183 hours weekly, exceeding the full variety of hours in a seven-day week.

The report mentioned Chowdhury was allowed to work completely from residence after telling his employers that he was caring for his mom, with whom he lived in east London.

His mom had dementia and was recognized with terminal most cancers in 2023.

However, slightly than scale back his workload to look after her, he continued taking over further jobs.

Chowdhury advised the courtroom that he accepted a number of roles as a result of he feared dropping his livelihood after experiencing insecure employment up to now.

He mentioned he had been made redundant from a job on the Department for Education in 2013 and was subsequently recognized with post-traumatic stress dysfunction.

Explaining his actions, he mentioned he had not been considering clearly when making use of for jobs “because of my stress, distress and trauma and due to my panic at the time”.

However, prosecuting barrister Lucy Organ accused him of mendacity in the course of the trial.

“He’s lied to you in evidence, he’s lied to you under oath, which demonstrates the level of deceit he has descended to,” she advised the jury.

The courtroom additionally heard proof from a number of of Chowdhury’s former managers about his efficiency at work.

One of them, Dan McCartney, who managed him on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, mentioned he needed to “effectively tell him what to do the whole time”.

McCartney advised the courtroom that Chowdhury ceaselessly switched off his digital camera throughout video calls, citing technical issues, and that the scenario continued for 4 to 5 months.

However, as a result of he was not subjected to formal efficiency measures on the division, Chowdhury was supplied a everlasting place and remained there for 2 years.

The prosecution additionally alleged that he used sick notes to handle his overlapping work commitments.

In March 2023, he was on sick go away from 4 organisations however continued working on the Home Office with out informing the division that he was unwell.

His line supervisor on the UK Health Security Agency, Aleesha Adams, additionally advised the courtroom a couple of video name she organized with him in May 2023, after he had been off sick for 3 months.

Adams mentioned she wished to debate a plan for his return to work.

She advised the jury that Chowdhury was coughing repeatedly and waving tissues in the direction of the digital camera initially of the assembly.

She additional alleged that he had utilized white make-up to his face to make himself seem unwell.

According to Adams, the make-up started coming off his brow because the assembly progressed.

“He was sweating, it was like rubbing off so it was darker underneath and darker on the neck,” she advised the courtroom.

Chowdhury denied the allegation, insisting that he had not worn make-up.

After the assembly, Adams found that he had joined the video name utilizing an electronic mail deal with belonging to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

When challenged, he blamed the incident on a technical error.

Adams mentioned she turned suspicious and escalated her issues to senior officers on the company.

“I believed he was lying,” she advised the jury.

However, his actions continued for a number of extra months till he left the civil service in September 2023.

Chowdhury was finally recognized in 2024 via the federal government’s National Fraud Initiative, which conducts checks of civil service databases, together with payroll information, each two years to establish anomalies.