KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? Federal prosecutors opened the government’s retrial case Tuesday against two former Westar Inc. executives who are accused of trying to loot the state’s largest electric utility.

In opening statements at the federal courthouse here, prosecutors said former Westar chief David Wittig and former executive vice president Douglas Lake funded extravagant lifestyles through corporate corruption at the Topeka-based utility.

They’re accused of using company planes for personal travel, increasing their own compensation and attempting to cash in on a proposed merger – all while Westar’s stock price plummeted and corporate debt ballooned.

“This case is about the greed of these defendants,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Rich Hathaway, the lead prosecutor. “They looked for every opportunity they could find to enrich themselves personally.”

The opening statement of Lake’s team was put off until this morning, to be followed by the start of testimony. But Wittig’s lead attorney, Adam Hoffinger, offered a defense likely to fall in line with that of his client’s former underling.

He said the case is in no way like other high-profile ones involving corporate fraud, but the comparison was bound to be made.

The Westar case is being retried after the first trial ended with a hung jury in December. It is among a long line of corporate scandals, ranging from Tyco International Ltd. and Enron Corp. to Martha Stewart and Monday’s sentencing of Adelphia Communications Corp.’s founder.

Hoffinger said prosecutors’ attempts to equate the Westar executives’ wealth and power with wrongdoing were unfair.

“They’re trying to transform what really is routine corporate conduct,” Hoffinger said. “They’re trying to transform that into a crime.”

Wittig, 49, is a former Wall Street investment banker who returned to his native Kansas in 1995 to join Westar. By 1998, he was at the company’s helm.

He brought in another investment banker, 55-year-old Lake of New Canaan, Conn., as vice president of strategic planning.

Together, the two set out to diversify the company, though prosecutors say they broke the law. Among other accusations, the 40-count indictment alleges Wittig and Lake forced out board members critical of their compensation, manipulated company bylaws to increase their earnings and benefits, and repeatedly used Westar’s planes for personal trips.