Wittig trial may move

A federal judge said Friday she was inclined to move the fraud trial of former Westar Energy Inc. chief executive David Wittig and a former Topeka banker to Kansas City, Kan.

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson did not issue a formal ruling after a pretrial hearing in Wittig’s case, however.

She said she would rule next week, after reviewing testimony from three consultants hired by Wittig’s attorneys.

Wittig and Clinton Odell Weidner II, the former president of Topeka’s Capital City bank, were indicted last November on seven charges each, including making false statements and money laundering, over an alleged $1.5 million loan and land scheme in 2001. The charges do not involve Westar. The trial is scheduled to start June 30.

Wall Street: Dow posts winning week

Wall Street regained its upward momentum Friday after upbeat outlooks from companies including Intel and Nvidia motivated investors to buy after two days of declines. The Dow Jones industrials climbed 113 points.

Analysts said the outlook news cheered investors worried about a weak economy in the later part of the year. It also gave the Nasdaq composite and Standard & Poor’s 500 indexes their fourth straight winning week, a feat not seen since the period ended Nov. 1, 2002.

The Dow closed up 113.38, or 1.3 percent, at 8,604.60, more than erasing a two-day loss of 97 points. It was the highest level seen since Jan. 16, when the blue chips finished at 8,697.87.

Investigation: Halliburton subsidiary admits to paying bribes

A subsidiary of Halliburton Co. paid a Nigerian tax official $2.4 million in bribes to get favorable tax treatment, the company disclosed in a federal filing.

In a filing made Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said its KBR subsidiary “made improper payments of approximately $2.4 million to an entity owned by a Nigerian national who held himself out as a tax consultant when in fact he was an employee of a local tax authority.”

The filing stated that the payments were found during a routine audit, and that several employees were fired as a result. Vice President Dick Cheney led the company until August 2000. The bribes reportedly were paid between 2001 and 2002.

Bankruptcy: Enron plans to group assets into new company

Enron Corp. announced plans Friday to cluster 19 international power and pipeline assets in a new company as part of its Chapter 11 reorganization, ending efforts to sell the businesses after they did not draw satisfactory bids.

The company, temporarily dubbed “InternationalCo.,” is one of two in which creditors will have shares when Enron’s massive bankruptcy wraps up. Most of the assets are in South and Central America, including a Brazilian power plant used in a sham sale to pump up profits at the energy company.