00:0056-year-old Kashima Chowdhury from Whitechapel lied about his employment status to get a string
00:06of overlapping roles across government departments and public bodies. Between February 2020 and
00:14September 2023, Chowdhury earned almost £350,000 from eight employers. This includes more than
00:22£280,000 in gross pay from employers for months when he had more than one full-time job.
00:29Jurors found Chowdhury guilty of nine counts of fraud after deliberating for about seven hours.
00:36During the trial, prosecutors said he exploited the work-from-home culture, which began during the
00:43COVID-19 pandemic, to hide his multiple jobs and took sick leave from some employers to manage the
00:50workload. In one incident described by prosecutor Lucy Organ as laughable, Chowdhury allegedly wore
00:58white makeup during a video call with his boss to seemingly appear ill. During the trial opening,
01:05the courts heard he began working for Tower Hamlets Council in February 2020, before taking a second
01:11job with DEFRA in April 2021. The two roles overlapped for more than a year. For four months in 2022,
01:19he also held a third position with the East London NHS Trust. In May 2023, he was being paid for
01:27five
01:28full-time jobs.
