Metro

Espada ‘still in charge’

A defiant, scandal-scarred Pedro Espada Jr. yesterday showed he remains in charge of his Bronx health-care empire despite a federal indictment that alleges he looted his clinics out of $500,000 intended for poor patients.

Espada headlined a press conference at his Soundview Health Center, on White Plains Road, touting the services it provides to medically underserved neighborhoods.

And the Soundview Health Care Network he founded and built up over 30 years is not going anywhere, he said. And neither is he, barring a criminal conviction. He claims his innocence.

He boasted that government funds continue to pour into Soundview — though he complained that a $3 million grant for a new building has been held up.

“Let me give you some breaking news. With all of the turmoil that has surrounded our institution . . . the fact is we have been approved in the last couple of weeks for $1.7 million in federal funds,” said Espada, a former state senator who was soundly defeated for re-election in November.

He was joined by a bevy of local politicians, clergy and community leaders.

Espada urged community leaders to pester officials to release the $3 million in building aid. “We are very close to getting that money, and we ask for the continued support,” he said.

Espada insisted that legal woes will not force Soundview to shut its doors.

He said there’s no reason for him to step down because he expects to be exonerated.

State Medicaid Inspector General James Sheehan’s Office barred Espada and his son, Pedro Gautier, also a criminal defendant in the federal case, from personally receiving Medicaid funds.

Only Soundview’s Espada-controlled board of directors has the authority to boot him, state officials said.

And that’s not going to happen, Espada and state officials agree.

“We aren’t doing anything to Mr. Espada,” a state official said.

ikimulisa.livingston@nypost.com