Bill Bosze has paid extra-close attention to the federal charges accusing a pair of former Westar Energy Inc. executives of looting the utility company.

“I put in 37 years — all of them at the Lawrence power plant,” said Bosze, who’ll turn 85 in a couple of weeks.

Even Tuesday’s inclement weather couldn’t keep Bosze and eight other Westar retirees from the Lawrence chapter of the Westar Energy Retirees Club’s December meeting at Perkins Restaurant, 1711 W. 23rd St. They had a lot to discuss.

News of the 40-count federal indictment filed last week against former company executives David Wittig and Doug Lake took Bosze by surprise.

“I was shocked,” he said.

Federal prosecutors have filed a forfeiture count seeking real and personal property traceable to criminal activity, including $25 million from Wittig and more than $7 million from Lake in salary, compensation and benefits paid during their employment at Westar.

If convicted, Wittig and Lake face time in prison.

Addressing his long-retired co-workers, Bosze asked: If Wittig and Lake are forced to give back the $25 million, what happens to the money?

“Does it go back to the company?” he asked. “Or does it go to the government?”

It’s a good question that, as yet, is without an answer, said Kena Rice, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas.

“That’s not been decided,” Rice said. “But the attorney in the case has said that at some point it could come down to Westar, the shareholders, or the government — or some combination of the three. Nobody knows at this point. It’s a decision that’s still being made.”

Rice added that until Wittig and Lake were found guilty in a court of law, they were considered innocent.

In July, Wittig and his banker, Clinton Odell Weidner II, were convicted of six federal felonies each in a federal loan-conspiracy case. Sentencing in that case has been postponed until Feb. 27.

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In the new case, Wittig and Lake are scheduled to appear Dec. 30 in federal court in Kansas City, Kan. A trial date has not been set.

Bosze had another question: Who hired Wittig? And why isn’t that person being prosecuted?

Karla Olsen, senior manager in charge of media relations at Westar, said Wittig was hired as executive vice president in charge of corporate strategy by former company President John Hayes in 1995. Hayes retired in 1998 and is now living in Florida.

Lake joined the company in 1998.

In the indictment, Olsen said, it’s the company’s understanding that neither Hayes nor past or present board members were charged because, according to the indictment, they were deceived by Wittig and Lake.

“(Wittig and Lake) are accused of misleading the board and circumventing the board’s control of the company,” she said.

Bosze said he found that hard to believe. “This is all a big farce,” he said. “You don’t think there was hanky-panky going on under the table? Come on.”