UK civil servant charged over five remote jobs
Bastillepost · 1 SOURCESabout 4 hours ago3 MIN
Summary
A 55-year-old civil servant from Whitechapel in east London, Kashim Chowdhury, is on trial after prosecutors alleged that he used remote-working arrangements to conceal multiple overlapping full-time jobs across UK government departments and public bodies . The court heard that at one point in May 2023 he was drawing salaries from five full-time roles at the same time, with combined contracted hours of 183 a week, exceeding the 168 hours in a week . Prosecutors said he received about £350,000 from eight employers between February 2020 and September 2023, and that the case came to light after concerns over sickness absence, performance and a video call in which he allegedly appeared to have used make-up to look ill . Chowdhury denies nine fraud charges and denies acting dishonestly or intending to gain money by deception, with the case continuing at Southwark Crown Court in London .
Key Points
- Prosecutors said Chowdhury began at Tower Hamlets Council in February 2020 and was later hired by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in April 2021, with the two full-time roles overlapping for more than a year .
- In 2022, he also worked for East London NHS Trust for about four months, and later held roles linked to 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 .
- The court heard that in May 2023 he was simultaneously paid for five full-time jobs, with total contracted hours of 183 a week, more than the total number of hours available in a seven-day week .
- Prosecutors alleged he told managers he needed to stay home to care for his sick mother, sought remote working, and at times took sick leave from some roles while continuing to work in others .
- One supervisor at the UK Health Security Agency reportedly became suspicious during a May 2023 video meeting after noticing repeated coughing, an unusually pale face, a different skin tone on his neck, and white make-up apparently coming off his forehead .
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong readers, the case is a reminder that remote and hybrid work can create oversight gaps when employers rely heavily on self-reporting and separate payroll systems . It also shows how sickness certification, cross-department data checks and line-management controls can become central in detecting suspected payroll fraud in large public-sector organisations .