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A British Bangladeshi former Tower Hamlets council employee fraudulently collected over £284,000 by working five government departments simultaneously while remote working, Southwark Crown Court heard as his trial got underway. Kashim Chowdhury, 55, of Whitechapel in east London, allegedly juggled eight separate taxpayer-funded posts between February 2020 and September 2023, accumulating gross receipts of £349,378 before departmental investigators uncovered the multi-job network. At the height of the alleged fraud, the British Bangladeshi administrator was contracted to complete 183 hours per week—demanding 15 hours more labour than exists in an entire seven-day week—while systematically concealing his competing appointments across Whitehall.
Prosecutor Lucy Organ detailed how Chowdhury, who previously worked in local public administration within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, dishonestly obtained £284,613 across major central government departments, including the Home Office, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Food Standards Agency, and the Department for Business and Trade. Despite supervisors identifying persistent non-performance and a complete inability to operate independently, the British Bangladeshi officer managed to secure permanent civil service status under internal staffing protocols. Chowdhury denies nine counts of fraud.
Jurors heard sworn testimony from Dan McCartney, Chowdhury’s line manager at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who supervised the defendant during his £52,000-a-year appointment. McCartney told journalists that Chowdhury was ineffective in his day-to-day duties, necessitating continuous monitoring and step-by-step instruction far beyond what was standard for an officer of his grade. When questioned regarding his substandard delivery, Chowdhury offered domestic mitigation, informing managers he was struggling emotionally because his mother had received a cancer diagnosis.
Despite McCartney’s operational concerns, Chowdhury was granted a permanent civil service contract under a Whitehall policy that automatically confirmed fixed-term employees who were not under active, formal disciplinary measures. McCartney told journalists he strongly opposed the permanent transition, but human resources directives required the conversion to proceed without formal capability hearings.
The prosecution presented detailed accounts of the measures Chowdhury employed to evade detection and avoid live meetings while drawing multiple salaries. Daily Dazzling Dawn learned that during an online video call arranged to address his poor productivity, Chowdhury smeared white cosmetic make-up across his face to feign severe illness and abruptly end managerial questioning.
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Jurors were told the British Bangladeshi civil servant consistently attended internal team video conferences with his camera switched off, repeatedly blaming technical hardware malfunctions. McCartney explained to the court that it took months of persistent managerial pressure before the defendant resolved the supposed IT issues. When asked directly by the prosecution whether Chowdhury ever disclosed that he held secondary employment alongside his Defra role, McCartney replied that no other positions had ever been declared.
