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Civil servant convicted of fraud after juggling up to five Government jobs

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Allingham, P. (2026, November 9). Civil servant convicted of fraud after juggling up to five Government jobs. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/southwark-crown-court-london-whitechapel-crown-prosecution-service-tower-hamlets-council-b1304187.html

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Evening Standard · collected 2026-11-09 · by Pol Allingham

Quick Summary

Mohammad Chowdhury, a civil servant, has been convicted of nine counts of fraud for simultaneously holding up to five full-time government jobs using remote work policies and sick leave excuses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prosecutors from the CPS charged that he earned over £280,000 through fraudulent means by concealing his multiple employment statuses, leading to financial gain and sustained dishonesty.
Written by AI on 2026-11-09, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Kashim Chowdhury, a 56-year-old civil servant from east London, was found guilty of nine counts of fraud on November 9, 2026, after secretly holding up to five full-time government jobs simultaneously. He earned more than £284,000 in taxpayers' money between spring 2023 and 2026. The prosecution alleged that Chowdhury concealed his employment status from various departments like Defra, the Department of Health and Social Care, UKHSA, and others, to fraudulently secure multiple full-time positions.

Chowdhury was allowed remote work due to claims he was caring for his mother, who had dementia. After a seven-hour deliberation at Southwark Crown Court on his birthday, Judge Mark Weekes remanded Chowdhury in custody pending sentencing, suggesting a potential prison term of three to six years with a starting point of five years. Prosecutors argued that Chowdhury's actions were motivated by financial gain and involved sustained and deliberate dishonesty over several years.

Written for “Fraudster Civil Servant Faces Jail” on 2026-11-09, grounded in this article and the 3 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 138923 · logged 2026-11-09

Story

Fraudster Civil Servant Faces Jail
Crime & Law · 4 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 23% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
BBC News
Hedges 1 of 40 claims Outlet record 66/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 6 of 35 claims Outlet record 64/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 5 of 26 claims Outlet record 64/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
22
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
23%
5 of 22 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Evening Standard's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
4
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-09 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Evening Standard · 9248 article(s) · 74 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 74 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Pol Allingham
42 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
Judge Weekes added that Chowdhury has “suffered mental health crises”, telling the court: “There can, it seems to me, be few more crushing realisations than the fact of immediate custodial sentence being the most likely in the court’s mind, and the loss of all that he currently holds dear.” There, therefore, seems to be substantial grounds to believe he “may seek to harm himself or worse”, the judge said.
Sarah Melo, specialist prosecutor at the CPS serious economic organised crime and international directorate, said after the verdicts Chowdhury had “deliberately concealed the true extent of his employment so that he could obtain and be paid for multiple full-time jobs at the same time”.
Sarah Melo, specialist prosecutor at the CPS serious economic organised crime and international directorate, said after the verdicts Chowdhury had “deliberately concealed the true extent of his employment so that he could obtain and be paid for multiple full-time jobs at the same time”.
The shamed comedian-turned-conspiracy theorist will spend the weekend in custody before he returns to the same court on Monday to learn his prison sentence.
Chief Inspector Rachel Noble, district commander for Eastleigh, said: “The violence witnessed on Saturday night will have undoubtedly been extremely distressing and concerning for everyone who was at the party.
She wrote to say she knows he is an abuser and that he will never see his grandchildren Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, the outlet said.
First Minister John Swinney met with senior politicians, emergency response agencies and forecasters to discuss the ongoing response, amid warnings that similar conditions will return early next week.
2026-10-25 · assertive framing · Man killed by falling tree in Storm Boelo
Forecasters are monitoring another low pressure system moving in on Monday and Tuesday.
The time passed makes it “understandable” Meghan “may have been mistaken by a few months”, they added.
The island of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides experienced 82mph winds at about 4am on Sunday, according to the forecaster.
Also by Pol Allingham
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 42 articles by Pol Allingham →

Topics

CPS Defra East London NHS Trust Government the Proceeds of Crime Act

Subjects

Chowdhury PERSON · 7× Lucy Organ PERSON · 2× CPS ORG · 1× Defra ORG · 1× East London NHS Trust ORG · 1× Government ORG · 1× Sarah Melo PERSON · 1× the Department for Business and Trade ORG · 1× the Department of Health and Social Care ORG · 1× the UK Health Security Agency ORG · 1×

Narrative

After leaving the council, prosecutors said Chowdhury continued working for Defra while gaining further jobs with 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.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-09
Sarah Melo, specialist prosecutor at the CPS serious economic organised crime and international directorate, said after the verdicts Chowdhury had “deliberately concealed the true extent of his employment so that he could obtain and be paid for multiple full-time jobs at the same time”.
2026-11-09 · Evening Standard
Civil servant convicted of fraud after juggling up to five Government jobs · mixed framing

Claims (22 extracted, 5 hedged)

A civil servant has been found guilty of nine counts of fraud after using remote working and sick notes to juggle up to five full-time Government jobs at the same time. asserted
servant → find → time
This includes more than £280,000 in gross pay from employers for months when he had more than one full-time job, jurors were told. asserted
jurors → include → job
Read More On Monday, jurors found Chowdhury guilty of nine counts of fraud after deliberating for about seven hours. asserted
Chowdhury → read → hours
He wore a large grey knitted jumper and stared straight ahead as the verdicts were read out on his birthday. asserted
verdicts → wear → birthday
Sarah Melo, specialist prosecutor at the CPS serious economic organised crime and international directorate, said after the verdicts Chowdhury had “deliberately concealed the true extent of his employment so that he could obtain and be paid for multiple full-time jobs at the same time”. uncertain
he → say → time
She added: “He repeatedly misrepresented the true nature of his employment status while continuing to receive full-time salaries from other public bodies. asserted
He → add → bodies
He knew he could not legitimately hold multiple full-time positions at the same time but continued to conceal what he was doing. uncertain
he → know → what
“His actions were motivated by financial gain, allowing him to receive multiple salaries through his fraudulent conduct, which we will now seek to reclaim through the Proceeds of Crime Act.” asserted
we → motivate → Act
During the trial, prosecutors said he “exploited” the work-from-home culture which began during the Covid-19 pandemic to hide his multiple jobs and took sick leave from some employers to manage the workload. asserted
which → say → workload
In one incident, described by prosecutor Lucy Organ as “laughable”, Chowdhury allegedly wore white make-up during a video call with his boss to seemingly appear ill, the court heard. uncertain
court → describe → boss
Chowdhury previously told the court work was his “lifeline”. asserted
work → tell → court
He told the court that around May and June 2022, his mother’s health “deteriorated”. uncertain
health → tell → May
He said: “That overwhelmed me at the time.” The two roles overlapped for more than a year, the court heard. asserted
court → say → year
For four months in 2022, he also held a third position with East London NHS Trust. asserted
he → hold → Trust
After leaving the council, prosecutors said Chowdhury continued working for Defra while gaining further jobs with 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. asserted
Chowdhury → leave → Business
In May 2023, he was being paid for five full-time jobs, the court heard. uncertain
court → pay → jobs
At one point, he was contracted to work 183 hours a week – more hours than actually exist in seven days, the court heard. asserted
court → contract → days
Prosecutor Lucy Organ told jurors Chowdhury made false representations about his existing employment when applying for the roles. asserted
Chowdhury → tell → roles
“Clearly, he would not have been employed by his employers if they had known he had multiple other full-time jobs,” she said. asserted
she → employ → jobs
The court heard Chowdhury had told employers he had to work from home to care for his “unwell” mother. asserted
he → hear → mother
But Ms Organ said his workload eventually became “too much to cope with” and his performance suffered. asserted
performance → say → ?
The jury was told he then took sick leave from some jobs while continuing to work in his other positions. asserted
he → tell → positions
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