Westar pair restricted to home-state travel

? Two former Westar Energy executives who once jetted around the world on their company’s dime have been ordered to remain within the borders of the states in which they live.

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson imposed the restriction last week on David Wittig, Westar’s former chief executive officer, and Douglas T. Lake, former executive vice president and chief strategic officer. It was one of four changes she ordered in the conditions for Wittig and Lake to remain free before they are tried on 40 federal charges tied to their tenures with Westar.

Prosecutors allege that from 1998 to 2002, Wittig and Lake conspired to enrich themselves as Westar’s stock sank from $44 to less than $9 a share and its debt soared to $3.6 billion.

As a result of Robinson’s written order, Wittig, of Topeka, can’t travel outside Kansas, and Lake can’t travel outside Connecticut, where he is living, except to and from meetings with their respective defense attorneys in this case and other pending criminal or civil cases.

Robinson also ordered Wittig and Lake to surrender any and all passports and visas, to report to probation officials as directed, to report to the FBI for fingerprinting and to be photographed if that hasn’t been done already.

However, Robinson didn’t impose several other restrictions requested by prosecutors, including barring Wittig and Lake from purchasing, selling or transferring any property worth more than $10,000 without first notifying prosecutors and the U.S. Probation Office and getting the judge’s approval.

The travel restriction will be a change for the men who were criticized in a company report for their use of corporate jets. According to the report released last spring, Wittig used company planes for personal trips with friends and family at least 18 times, and faked flight logs on occasion. Wittig and Lake also scheduled unnecessary business meetings to mask personal trips, the report said. Because of Lake’s frequent travels to his West Palm Beach, Fla., home, employees called the company plane the “Florida Shuttle,” the report said.