KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? One of David Wittig’s biggest critics testified Wednesday that the former chief executive officer of Westar Energy Inc. manipulated company rules in 2002 to give himself an annual bonus without disclosing it to shareholders.

Jim Zakoura, an attorney who represents some of Westar’s industrial energy customers, also testified in the federal fraud trial for Wittig and Douglas T. Lake, Westar’s former executive vice president, that the company never disclosed the executives’ personal use of corporate airplanes.

Lake and Wittig, who face 40 counts each, are accused of trying to loot Westar, the state’s largest electric utility. They could face more than 10 years in prison if convicted in the trial that began Oct. 19 in U.S. District Court.

Defense attorneys had been concerned that Zakoura might tell jurors about potential harm to the utility’s customers during Wittig’s tenure.

Six jurors are Westar customers, and U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson already had directed prosecutors not to mention any alleged harm caused to ratepayers. The government’s case against Wittig and Lake is based on harm to shareholders.

Wittig’s attorney, Adam Hoffinger, asked Robinson on Wednesday to exclude Zakoura’s testimony.

“(Zakoura) is walking, talking ratepayer harm,” Hoffinger said.

Robinson allowed Zakoura’s testimony but directed him not to talk about certain subjects. She even prevented U.S. Atty. Richard Hathaway from telling jurors what Zakoura does for a living.

On the stand, Zakoura explained items found in a report the company filed with federal securities officials and read some documents, including a series of e-mails and meeting minutes for a Westar committee that determines executive compensation. The e-mails show that Wittig persuaded the committee to delay awarding him a $267,000 annual bonus until after the company’s annual meeting with shareholders in spring 2002. By doing that, Westar didn’t have to disclose the bonus in annual reports for fiscal year 2001.

It was during 2001 that Wittig unsuccessfully pushed for a deal that would have merged Westar with a New Mexico utility, while spinning off several unregulated subsidiaries into a company Wittig hoped to control.

Zakoura also read through the annual compensation figures for Wittig, Lake and other executives, noting that they never disclosed personal use of the company’s aircraft.

An accountant last week testified that the executives’ personal use of corporate airplanes would have cost more than $1.8 million if they had paid for regular charter flights.

Defense attorneys argued that the information was inaccurate, saying the figures were based on incorrect assumptions of what constituted personal travel.