Civil servant who juggled up to five government jobs guilty of fraud

Kashim Chowdhury has been found guilty of nine fraud counts after a jury heard he held as many as five full-time government jobs at the same time. The verdicts were delivered at Southwark Crown Court on 9 November 2026, after about seven hours of deliberation, according to the BBC.

The jury found him guilty of eight counts of fraud by false representation and one count of fraud by failing to disclose information. The BBC reported that the judge said Chowdhury faced a “very significant custodial sentence” and refused bail. No sentence is reported in the available coverage.

The prosecution said Chowdhury gave inaccurate information about his employment on job application forms and failed to tell departments that he already held other public-sector roles. It argued that remote working helped him conceal the overlapping jobs and that he used sick leave from some employers while continuing to work elsewhere.

The BBC reported that he had five government jobs which overlapped in spring 2023 and had fraudulently earned more than £284,000 of taxpayers’ money. Separately, The Independent reported that more than £280,000 in gross pay came from employers for months in which he had more than one full-time job. Those figures describe different measures and should not be treated as interchangeable.

Between 2020 and 2023, Chowdhury held eight full-time public-sector roles, with earnings of about £350,000 in total, the BBC reported. At the height of the overlap, the court heard, his posts included work for 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. He was contracted to work 183 hours a week during that period.

Earlier work included roles with Tower Hamlets Council and East London NHS Trust, according to evidence outlined during the trial. The prosecution said he had told employers he was caring for his mother and was able to work remotely. It alleged he exploited home working to keep his other jobs from being discovered.

Chowdhury gave evidence during the trial and said he had made mistakes but did not believe he had acted with criminal intent. He described the jobs as a “lifeline” during a stressful period, including as his mother’s health declined, and said some managers knew he had other employment.

The prosecution disputed his account. Managers who gave evidence described concerns about his performance, including work said to have been late or below the expected standard. Prosecutors also alleged that sick leave was used to cope with the workload across his roles.

The case centred on whether Chowdhury had dishonestly concealed his other jobs and obtained pay through false representations or non-disclosure. The jury’s guilty verdicts resolved those charges; the next reported court step is sentencing.

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