Topeka ? Prosecutors are listing 97 people as potential witnesses for the federal fraud trial of David Wittig and another former Westar Energy Inc. executive accused of looting the utility.

The list includes current and former Westar executives as well as former and current members of the company’s board of directors. The list also includes Marc Charbonnet, a New York interior designer, who worked on Wittig’s home in Topeka and Westar’s executive office suite.

Wittig, 49, of Topeka, Westar’s former chief executive officer, and Douglas T. Lake, 54, of New Canaan, Conn., the company’s former executive vice president, each face 40 counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, falsifying books and records, and circumventing internal accounting controls.

Their trial is scheduled to start Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan. The chief prosecutor for the case, Assistant U.S. Atty. Rich Hathaway, filed the witness list with the court Friday.

Other witnesses on the prosecutors’ list include John Hayes, who retired as Westar chief executive and chairman of the Westar board of directors in January 1999 and recruited Wittig into the company; Richard Ginsburg, chief executive of Protection One, a monitored security business in which Westar formerly had a majority interest; and Jim Zakoura, an Overland Park attorney who represents large Westar industrial customers.

Wittig joined the company as a vice president in 1995 and rose to chief executive. Lake joined the company in 1998.

Wittig resigned in November 2002, after his indictment in a separate bank loan case, which led to his conviction on six counts and a prison sentence of four years and three months.

In December 2002, Westar’s board forced Lake out of his job.