Topeka ? A federal grand jury issued a pair of new indictments Wednesday against former Westar Energy Inc. executives David Wittig and Douglas Lake, adding to the charges they already face.

The indictment, issued in U.S. District Court in Topeka, adds 11 counts of engaging in monetary transactions derived from an unlawful activity, but drops previous charges of making false statements to government agencies and one count of wire fraud.

Wittig, of Topeka, Westar’s former chairman and chief executive officer, and Douglas T. Lake, of New Canaan, Conn., the company’s former executive vice president, originally faced 40 counts each. Prosecutors have charged the pair with trying to loot Westar, the state’s largest electric utility, before leaving the company near the end of 2002.

The new indictments were announced by U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren.

“As investigations continue in complex cases, the need often arises for superseding indictments to clarify or change the charges alleged by the grand jury, and in light of recent rulings by the Supreme Court,” Melgren said in a prepared statement.

Melgren declined to comment about the changes, but said the revised indictment “will streamline the presentation of evidence at trial.”

Wittig and Lake are scheduled to appear Aug. 11 in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., before Magistrate Judge James O’Hara. A jury trial is set for Sept. 7 in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., before Judge Julie Robinson. Lake has asked for a separate trial.

In late June, attorneys for Lake and Wittig filed new documents attacking the government’s case. Wittig’s attorneys asked Robinson to dismiss 33 of the 40 charges against him, while Lake’s attorneys argued that the entire case should be dismissed.

The attorneys contended the original indictment charging the two men was flawed and, in some cases, too vague. The U.S. attorney’s office has until July 26 to respond, and Robinson plans to have a hearing Aug. 10 to consider pretrial issues.

The indictment alleges that Wittig and Lake sought to enrich themselves even as Westar faced financial problems. Wittig joined the company as a vice president in 1995 and eventually rose to CEO. Lake joined the company in 1998.

In November 2002, after his indictment in an unrelated bank loan case, Wittig asked Westar’s board of directors to place him on administrative leave so he could concentrate on his defense. He resigned less than two weeks later.

The next month, two weeks after Wittig’s departure, Westar’s board put Lake on indefinite administrative leave, though Lake’s attorneys later described the action as a firing.