Kashim Chaudhry convicted of £284,000 fraud over multiple public jobs
Kashim Chaudhry has been found guilty of fraud after secretly holding multiple full-time public sector jobs and fraudulently earning more than £284,000 of taxpayers' money.
How it was covered
- BBC One was the only channel found covering it, concentrating on the fraud's scale, overlapping public jobs and the judge's sentencing warning.
- Channel 5, BBC News, BBC Two, Channel 4, GB News, ITV and Sky News: not found in tracked broadcasts.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story. Facts only one channel reported are attributed to it.
BBC One West reported that Kashim Chaudhry has been found guilty of fraud after secretly holding multiple full-time public sector jobs. The channel said he fraudulently earned more than £284,000 of taxpayers' money.
Between 2020 and 2023, he worked for eight public sector organisations, and five of those jobs overlapped at one point. The later BBC One West bulletin described him as from East London.
He worked at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on an annual salary of £49,000. He was also employed by the UK Health Security Agency on £52,000 and had jobs at the Food Standards Agency, the Department for Business and Trade, where the salary was £38,000, and the Home Office.
During the period, he was contracted to work 183 hours a week, more than the 168 hours in a seven-day week and equivalent to more than 26 hours a day.
BBC One West reported that he kept the jobs secret because he worked fully from home. He told his bosses he was looking after his mother, who had terminal cancer. He tried to cope with the schedule by taking sick leave from four jobs, but carried on working at the Home Office.
According to the channel, Chaudhry looked broken when the jury delivered its verdict. His defence was that he had been suffering from stress and trauma and did not know what he was doing. The prosecution argued that he had been consistently dishonest and had exploited the system.
Defra, which led the investigation, said it would use all available avenues to recover the proceeds of his offending. The judge refused bail and said he faces a very significant custodial sentence. Chaudhry was taken into custody.
Zoe Conway, BBC News, reported from Southwark Crown Court.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Chaudhry was reported to have been contracted to work 183 hours a week, more than the number of hours in seven days. | |
| Chaudhry was reported to have fraudulently earned over £284,000 in taxpayers' money through multiple full-time jobs. | |
| Chaudhry was reported to have worked for eight public sector organisations between 2020 and 2023, with five jobs overlapping in the spring. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The channel's coverage centred on the mechanics of the fraud, listing the public bodies and salaries involved and stressing that Chaudhry was contracted for more hours than a week contains. It also gave space to the courtroom exchange, including his stress and trauma defence, the prosecution's dishonesty case and the judge's warning of a significant custodial sentence. The later bulletin repeated the package with minor additions, including that he was from East London and had held up to five jobs at once.
- “Kashim Chaudhry fraudulently earned more than £284,000 of taxpayers' money by holding multiple full-time jobs.”
- “He was able to keep his job secret because he worked fully from home.”
- “The judge said he faced a very significant custodial sentence because of the significance of the crime.”
Who was on air
People and organisations each channel put on air while covering this story. Channels' own presenters and reporters are not listed. Names as transcribed, and the list can miss people.
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.