Wittig pooch flew Westar

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Nov 5, 2004 by Steve Fry Capital-Journal

Employees logged family use of utility's planes

By Steve Fry

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

KANSAS CITY, Kan. --- Even Coco, the David Wittig family dog, rode in the Westar Energy corporate jet, a witness testified Thursday during the trial of former Westar executives Wittig and Douglas Lake.

Another passenger was Grace Augustine, the nanny for the children of Wittig and his wife, Beth, said Paula Cox, former flight coordinator for Westar Energy who now works as an analyst for Westar.

Much of the testimony Thursday focused on personal use of the company aircraft by Wittig, Lake and other corporate officers and board members. Wittig and Lake are charged by federal prosecutors with looting Westar.

Westar first had a turbo-prop airplane, and in about 1996, the company bought a Cessna C VII, a jet, Cox said. Westar eventually purchased a second C VII, then two Cessna C Xs, a larger model jet.

The turbo-prop plane only carried company officers, said Cox, a 10- year employee of Westar.

"When we got the jets, more people started flying," Cox said.

When senior officers didn't need the jets, lower management at Westar could book the plane for travel, she said, but lower-level managers could be bumped by senior officers.

The C VIIs first were based at the Downtown Airport in Kansas City, Mo., and passengers drove to Kansas City to board the planes, Cox said. In late 1999, the jets were moved to a hangar built by Westar at Forbes Field.

A secretary of Wittig or Lake would contact Cox to reserve a flight on the corporate jets, Cox said.

The various jets would be listed under the names of subsidiary companies of Westar, and Cox's paycheck would change with the name of those companies even though her benefits remained the same, Cox said.

According to Cox, Westar air travel had its own jargon:

- "Florida shuttle" referred to the frequent trips to Florida by Lake and his wife, Suzanne.

- "Dead head" meant a plane was traveling without passengers while it was en route to a city to pick up passengers or returning to Topeka after dropping off passengers.

- "Plus 1" or "Plus 2" was code in Westar flight records for child passengers flying in the plane. For instance, "Wittigs plus 2" meant David and Beth Wittig and their two children.

Cox said the number of passengers had to be recorded in flight logs so the amount of fuel could be determined and because it affected the plane's weight and balance. She said on one flight that included the Wittigs' dog, Coco.

On Dec. 30, 2001, the jet took off from Forbes Field, dead- heading to White Plains, N.Y., then flew to West Palm Beach, Fla., and returned to Forbes Field. Passengers were the Wittig family and Doug and Suzanne Lake, Cox said. The purpose of the trip was listed as a meeting of Protection One, a security company owned by Westar at that time.

During several days in June 2000, Wittig and Lake traveled aboard the company jet in France, Belgium, Switzerland and England, all on Protection One business, Cox said the logs reflected.

David Schneweis, senior director of taxation for Westar since 1998, testified that in 2002, Wittig had the most guests aboard the company jet, followed by Lake.

Wittig had more than $100,000 worth of travel by non-Westar employees that year, followed by Lake, who had $67,000 worth of travel, and a third Westar officer who had $17,000, Schneweis said.

Between 1999 and 2002, about $696,000 wasn't added to employee W- 2 forms for personal use of the plane, Schneweis said. He also said the $696,000 wasn't claimed as a deduction on Westar's corporate taxes.

At a meeting in 1999, Schneweis told four corporate officers that the flights needed to be added to the employees' W-2 forms as salary. The corporate officers said they would get back to Schneweis after talking to Wittig.

"They didn't get back to me," Schneweis said.

In 1999, 174 non-employee passengers traveled on the Westar jet, and 183 in 2000.

At one point, Schneweis was asked whether the Westar jet flew the Wittig family to the Hamptons on Long Island, in New York.

"I know the flights went to the Hamptons airport," Schneweis said.

Schneweis also testified that Westar has no businesses in the Hamptons.

Wittig, 49, of Topeka, former chief executive officer, president and chairman of the board of Westar, and Lake, 54, of New Canaan, Conn., former executive vice president of corporate strategy, each face one count of conspiracy and forfeiture, seven counts of wire fraud, 14 counts of circumventing internal accounting controls and falsifying books and records, and 17 counts of money laundering.

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Westar: Tax director says W-2s should have reflected personal flights