The former council housing boss who has been sacked for gross misconduct amid a police fraud investigation said he will appeal his dismissal.

Jugal Sharma was sacked on Tuesday from his post as Brighton and City Council’s head of housing on the grounds of “gross misconduct linked to short-term leasing arrangements”, the authority said.

The 53-year-old told The Argus on Tuesday he was appealing the decision, although a spokesman for the council said yesterday it had not received an appeal. He has seven days from Tuesday to file one.

Mr Sharma, who has been interviewed under caution by police investigating alleged multi-million pound property fraud, declined to comment further. Council policy says that once an appeal is received, a dismissal appeal panel, consisting of three councillors and a legal and HR advisor, must meet as soon as possible to hear the case.

In a statement on Tuesday, the council’s chief executive Penny Thompson said Mr Sharma’s dismissal followed a “robust investigation” and the decision was made unanimously by the members of the disciplinary panel.

Mr Sharma was suspended from his job in October last year after a whistleblower raised concerns about irregularities in short-term leasing contracts.

In August, police raided homes in Sussex, Essex and London and seized computers and files as part of their investigation into alleged £18 million fraud of council contracts dating back a decade.

The investigation centres on payments made to property services firm KEM, run by Mr Sharma’s brother, Ashley Parker, 51, of Balfour Road, Essex, who has been arrested and bailed until January.

His fellow KEM director Edward Charles Parker-Bancroft, 57, of Harlands Road, Haywards Heath, was also arrested and bailed until January, as was a 67-year-old understood to be Alan Fisher, of Ashvale Drive, Upminster, and a 53-year-old man arrested in Elms Road, London.

Mr Sharma was interviewed under caution in September on suspicion of misconduct in public office and corruption. He was not arrested. Arrangements are being made for the leadership of the housing service and a possible redesign is being looked into, a spokesman for the council said.

The authority is also working to ensure that tenants living in properties connected to the investigation will not face any changes to their housing arrangements, the spokesman added.