A council boss who was off work on full pay for more than six years said he has "nothing to apologise for" after finally being sacked.
Anthony O'Sullivan, former chief executive of Caerphilly council, was initially suspended in March 2013 and later put on "special leave". Since then he has received his full £137,000 salary despite not having to turn up for work.
Mr O'Sullivan was dismissed "without notice for gross misconduct" by councillors at a meeting on Thursday night.
After a four-and-a-half hour meeting held in private, interim council leader councillor Barbara Jones said a decision was made to "dismiss Mr O'Sullivan with immediate effect".
But Mr O'Sullivan told the BBC after the meeting that the "matter is far from concluded" and that he has "nothing to apologise to people in Caerphilly for".
He said he will now be appealing the decision at an employment tribunal.
Mr O'Sullivan was suspended in 2013 following allegations he engineered a pay increase for himself along with two other senior officers.
He was later found by the district auditor to have acted "unlawfully" through his actions in trying to engineer a pay rise for himself from £132,000 to £158,000 a year.
Speaking on Thursday night, Mr O'Sullivan said: "What I would say to the people of Caerphilly now is wait until the employment tribunal takes place in public, wait until the full facts emerge in the public domain. Then make a reasoned decision.
"The decision they've made this evening, clearly on political ground, will have very very serious repercussions on local government across Wales. This matter is far from concluded."
He told the BBC his sacking was a "travesty" and that there had been a "vicious media campaign" against him.
Councillor Jones said the council regretted "the amount of time and money that has been spent on this matter".
Since his suspension, Mr O'Sullivan has received nearly £900,000 in salary payments.
Taking into account legal costs and payouts to the two other officers involved in the case, Nigel Barnett and Daniel Perkins, the cost to the tax payer has been estimated at between £4m and £6m.
Mr O'Sullivan, Mr Barnett and Mr Perkins were charged with the criminal offence of misconduct in a public office in 2014 but these charges were later dismissed by a judge.
Mr Barnett and Mr Perkins both received severage packages of £171,000 and £127,000 respectively from the council in October 2017, but Mr O'Sullivan remained on gardening leave.
