How a civil servant got away with juggling five jobs for so long

Kashim Chowdhury’s web of deception extended far beyond what his colleagues initially suspected. While working for the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), it was later revealed that Chowdhury was simultaneously employed full-time by multiple government departments, including the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department for Business and Trade, the Food Standards Agency, and the Home Office. Shockingly, his contracts added up to 183 hours a week—far exceeding the number of hours in a single week—leading to him fraudulently receiving over £284,000 from public funds.

Between 2020 and 2023, Chowdhury held a total of eight full-time overlapping roles within the public sector, earning around £350,000 during this period. His deception was discovered after a colleague, Adams, noticed inconsistencies during a video call when he logged in using a Defra email address. Although Chowdhury claimed this was a technical glitch, Adams expressed to the court, “I believed he was lying,” and reported her suspicions to higher authorities. Despite this, his fraudulent activities went unnoticed until the government’s National Fraud Initiative identified irregularities in 2024 during routine checks of civil service payroll data. He was subsequently convicted on nine counts of fraud and warned of a “very substantial custodial sentence.”

Throughout the trial, glimpses into Chowdhury’s personal life and mindset emerged. The 56-year-old appeared alone at court, often carrying simple belongings and sometimes displaying moments of confusion. Diagnosed with PTSD in 2015, Chowdhury explained that his accumulation of jobs stemmed from a fear of job insecurity following previous employment setbacks, including being forced out of a role at the Department for Education in 2013. He claimed, “I hadn’t been thinking clearly when applying for jobs because of my stress, distress and trauma and due to my panic at the time.” However, prosecutors countered this narrative, insisting his acts were the result of deliberate and intentional dishonesty designed to exploit the system.

The case highlights significant flaws within the Civil Service infrastructure. One key issue is the fragmented nature of the human resources system, which operates independently across departments without centralized oversight. Because Chowdhury did not disclose his existing civil service roles in his applications, the duplication went unnoticed. Hannah Keenan from the Institute for Government remarked, “Government departments are taking hiring decisions independently of each other and without systems that join up… We’ve known for a long time about poor performers flying under the radar by shuffling between jobs.” Furthermore, Chowdhury was able to maintain his facade by working remotely from his east London home, where he cared for his seriously ill mother in 2023. Despite taking sick leave for mental health reasons documented by his GP, he paradoxically accepted more roles and concealed his workload with medical notes. His line managers provided damning assessments of his performance, with one, Dan McCartney at Defra, stating he had to “effectively tell him what to do the whole time.”

Additional factors compounded this systemic vulnerability. The culture within the Civil Service is reportedly hesitant to address poor performance for fear of complicated grievance processes or accusations of mismanaging taxpayer money. An ex-senior civil servant commented on this dynamic, warning that while the service must become less risk-averse, “don’t underestimate the fear factor: fear of drawn-out grievances and fear of being accused of wasting taxpayers’ money.” Defra condemned Chowdhury’s actions, emphasizing the thoroughness of the investigation and asserting that steps would be taken to recover stolen funds. The incident also draws attention to a rising trend dubbed “polygamous working,” where employees secretly hold multiple jobs, often facilitated by remote work arrangements. The National Fraud Initiative recently uncovered 23 similar cases in London alone, amounting to half a million pounds in overpayments in just a few months.

Aside from his fraud conviction, Chowdhury faces a legal dispute with his siblings, who allege he coerced their ailing mother into transferring half ownership of her £2.1 million home to him shortly before her death—a claim he denies. During proceedings, his courtroom behavior sometimes suggested bewilderment, with the jury ultimately concluding his actions were motivated by personal financial gain. As a result, Chowdhury now awaits sentencing and is expected to receive a significant custodial penalty