Topeka ? A former Topeka banker convicted in a loan conspiracy case will surrender to authorities Tuesday so he can begin serving his 6 1/2 year prison sentence, his attorneys said.

However, Bruce Simon, the attorney handling Clinton Odell Weidner’s appeal, also said he would file a motion asking U.S. District Judge Julie A. Robinson to allow Weidner to remain free on bail pending the outcome of his appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Robinson previously denied a similar request.

Robert Eye, an attorney who defended Weidner at trial, said Weidner would surrender Tuesday and enter prison a week later, on April 27. Weidner, the former president of Capital City Bank, could surrender to Topeka federal authorities or at a minimum-security prison in Yankton, S.D., Eye said.

Weidner was sentenced in February to 6 1/2 years in prison for conspiracy, filing false bank entries and money laundering. The case involved a $1.5 million personal loan Weidner received from co-defendant David Wittig, former president, CEO and chairman of Topeka-based Westar Energy Inc., after Weidner approved a $1.5 million increase in Wittig’s line of credit at the bank.

Wittig, also convicted of conspiracy, false bank entries and money laundering, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison. But Robinson has allowed him to remain free on bond pending appeal.

Simon said Weidner should be treated similarly.

However, Assistant U.S. Atty. Richard Hathaway previously has argued that because Weidner pleaded guilty to two charges, he would still spend time in prison even if his other four convictions were reversed.