Friday, August 20, 2010

Federal prosecutors have dismissed all charges against former Westar Energy executives David Wittig and Douglas Lake, who were accused of looting the Topeka utility.

A motion to dismiss the indictment was filed late Friday just hours after Barry Grissom was quietly sworn in as the new U.S. attorney for Kansas.

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson quickly granted the motion.

Wittig was chief executive officer of Westar and Lake was his top strategy officer. They were charged with conspiring to inflate their compensation from the company and taking steps to hide their actions.

A date for their third trial was pending. Their first trial ended in a hung jury, and their convictions in a second trial were overturned on appeal.

Jim Ludwig, Westar Energy executive vice president, issued the following response:

"We are extremely disappointed that the Department of Justice has given up pursuing justice against Wittig and Lake because we believe our investors still deserved an opportunity, after this long ordeal, to see whether a jury would hold them accountable for their actions. Our investors, who have borne the damages and expenses from this process, have not received any restitution.

We disagree with the DOJ's decision, but it's not our decision to make. We don't have authority to pursue criminal charges. Only the government can do that.

We will pursue our civil claims against Wittig and Lake in an arbitration proceeding, which was put on hold until the criminal proceedings were finished. With the DOJ's failure to prosecute them, the criminal proceedings are over and our civil claims against them will be heard.

Our investors pay for all the expenses from legal proceedings against Wittig and Lake.

Our customers do not pay any of those costs through their electric rates."