He was shocked — shocked — that Sheldon Silver did anything wrong.

The founder of a law firm that paid Silver millions over a dozen years for doing virtually no work gave the disgraced Assembly speaker his walking ­papers Wednesday.

“We were shocked to learn about the allegations against him of impropriety in the referral of cases to our firm. We have asked Mr. Silver to take a leave of absence until these allegations are resolved,” said Perry Weitz, founder and president of Weitz & Luxenberg.

US Attorney Preet Bharara last week charged Silver with using his public office to amass millions through corruption and kickback schemes.

One of the allegations centers on Silver delivering $500,000 in state grants to Dr. Robert Taub of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center for asbestos research in exchange for the doctor referring patients to the law firm.

Prosecutors say Silver received more than $3.2 million in fees from the firm on top of his $120,000 annual base pay through the scheme.

The criminal complaint said that Silver never even contacted or met the mesothelioma patients the doctor steered to Weitz & Luxenberg in Silver’s name, and did not do any legal work on the cases.

Weitz said: “As the US attorney’s complaint clearly stated, we were never told that he was ever going to allocate, or had allocated, any state funding in exchange for client names he referred to us.”

Asked whether the firm cut Silver’s $120,000 pay, officials said “the issue of compensation was still being addressed by the firm’s attorneys.”

While the law firm cooperated with the federal probe, the criminal complaint noted that the firm — on the advice of Silver — initially sought to block a subpoena from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Moreland Commission when the panel asked the firm about its financial dealings with Silver.

Silver issued a statement through the firm saying he was taking the leave in order to not be a “distraction.”

But after the federal charges hit, Silver was an even larger distraction in the Assembly, where he refused to give up his speaker’s post until pressured to do so.

Although out as speaker effective Monday, Silver, 70, will receive a handsome pension of at least $87,120 when he retires — $7,620 more than the base pay he will collect as a mere assemblyman, according to the Empire Center for New York State Policy.

The jockeying to succeed Silver as speaker intensified Wednesday. Bronx Assemblyman Carl Heastie became the strong front-runner after Harlem Assemblyman and Manhattan and Democratic chairman Keith Wright took himself out of the running to back Heastie.“Most people think it’s Heastie’s to lose,” said an insider.

Heastie’s bid is still complicated by the entry of Queens Assemblywoman Catherine ­Nolan, who, if elected, would become the first woman speaker.

Majority Leader Joseph Morelle — named interim leader until Feb. 10 — is also in the mix along with Brooklyn Assemblyman Joe Lentol.

© 2015 New York Post