Civil servant admits he 'made mistakes' juggling five government jobs
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Civil servant Kashim Chowdhury is accused of fraudulently earning more than £284,000 by working multiple full-time public sector jobs The civil servant accused of fraudulently earning more than £284,000 by juggling multiple public-sector jobs admitted making mistakes but said ''I do not believe there was criminal intent".
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Giving evidence at Southwark Crown Court, Kashim Chowdhury told the jury he had made mistakes because he was ''overwhelmed and stressed'' and had felt ''terror and panic'' at the thought of losing his livelihood.
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He told the jury he had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2015 and that it had been triggered in 2021.
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The 55-year-old, who is from east London, is on trial accused of nine counts of fraud.
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He denies acting dishonestly or intending to make a dishonest gain. The prosecution alleges Chowdhury failed to reveal to his employers that he had other full-time employment.
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But Chowdhury told the jury some of his managers knew he had other jobs. He told the court that staff and managers at the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra), the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London NHS Trust and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) all knew he had jobs elsewhere.
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At the height of the alleged deceit, Chowdhury held five full-time jobs on full-time salaries within the public sector.
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In the spring of 2023, he was employed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the UK Health Security Agency, the Food Standards Agency, the Department for Business and Trade and the Home Office.
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The jury was told that throughout this period he was contracted to work 183 hours a week - more than the number of hours that exist in seven days. Each job paid a full-time wage, with Chowdhury paid £11,000 for a single month's work in 2023.
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Chowdhury said the jobs were a "lifeline" during a time his mother's health had declined.
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Asked by defence barrister Pieter Briegel what extent stress in his life was due to the number of jobs, he replied: "The jobs at the time were my lifeline at the time, that was what I survived on at that particular moment.
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"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," he told the court.
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The prosecution alleges Chowdhury managed to keep his overlapping jobs secret because he worked entirely remotely.
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He told his employers he was the sole carer for his elderly mother and the prosecution alleges he "exploited this opportunity". A succession of Chowdhury's line managers have told the jury that he performed poorly in his roles.
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Abigail Mounde, who was Chowdhury's line manager at the Department for Business and Trade previously told the court: ''Any basic tasks I asked him to do he either did late or not to the standard I would have expected."
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Chowdhury was asked whether he accepted the criticism of his performance, including the allegation he failed to deliver work on time.
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He replied: "I reject them all." The prosecution also alleges Chowdhury used sick notes from his doctor as part of the cover-up.
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But the prosecution said while he was telling some employers he was sick and unfit to work because of "mixed anxiety and depressive disorder" he was not giving sick notes to other employers.
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The prosecution said this ''underlines the dishonesty involved in the whole affair". His line manager at the Health Security Agency, Aleesha Adams, arranged a video call in May 2023, to support him returning to work after a period of absence.
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In previous evidence she told the court she was surprised when he logged on wearing white make-up because his name led her to expect to see an Asian man with darker skin.
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She told the court that as the call went on the make-up started coming off his forehead. ''He was sweating, it was like rubbing off so it was darker underneath and darker on the neck."
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Prosecuting barrister Lucy Organ told the court: ''This almost laughable incident demonstrates quite how far the defendant was willing to go in his deceit.'' Civil servant faked illness with make-up to juggle five jobs, court hears
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