Section 26-2-81. Powers of Commissioner; access to documentary evidence and witnesses; false reports; failure to file reports

   (a) The Commissioner shall also have power:

   (1) To gather and compile information concerning and to investigate from time to time the organization, business, conduct, practices, and management of any person, firm, or corporation subject to this article and the relation thereof to other persons, firms, and corporations; and

   (2) To require, by regulation, persons, firms, and corporations subject to this article, or any class of them, to file with the Commissioner, in such form as he may prescribe, annual or special, or both annual and special, reports or answers in writing to specific questions, furnishing to the Commissioner such information as he may require as to the organization, business, conduct, practices, management, and relation to other persons, firms, and corporations of the person, firm, or corporation filing such reports or answers in writing. Such reports and answers shall be made under oath, or otherwise as the Commissioner may prescribe, and shall be filed with the Commissioner within such reasonable period as he may prescribe, unless additional time is granted in any case by the Commissioner.

(b) For the purposes of this article, the Commissioner shall at all reasonable times have access to, for the purpose of examination, and the right to copy any documentary evidence of any person, firm, or corporation being investigated or proceeded against and may require by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of all documentary evidence of any person, firm, or corporation relating to any matter under investigation. The Commissioner, hearing officer, or other designate may sign subpoenas and may administer oaths and affirmations, examine witnesses, and receive evidence.

   (1) The attendance of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence may be required at any designated place of hearing. In case of disobedience to a subpoena, the Commissioner may apply to the superior court for an order requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence.

   (2) The appropriate superior court may, in case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena issued to any person, firm, or corporation, issue an order requiring such person, firm, or corporation to appear before the Commissioner, or to produce documentary evidence if so ordered, or to give evidence touching the matter in question; and any failure to obey the order of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof.

(c) (1) (A) It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation willfully to:

         (i) Make, or cause to be made, any false entry or statement of fact in any report required to be made under this article;

         (ii) Make, or cause to be made, any false entry in any account, record, or memorandum kept by any person, firm, or corporation subject to this article;

         (iii) Neglect or fail to make, or cause to be made, full, true, and correct entries in such accounts, records, or memoranda of all facts and transactions appertaining to the business of such person, firm, or corporation;

         (iv) Remove out of the jurisdiction of this state or mutilate, alter, or by any other means falsify or conceal any documentary evidence of any such person, firm, or corporation; or

         (v) Refuse to submit to the Commissioner or to any of his authorized agents, for the purpose of inspection and taking copies, any documentary evidence of any such person, firm, or corporation in his possession or within his control.

      (B) Any person or the officers or agents of any firm or corporation who violate this subsection shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment of not more than three years or by a fine not to exceed $5,000.00, or both.

   (2) If any person, firm, or corporation required by this article to file any annual or special report fails so to do within the time fixed by the Commissioner for filing the report and such failure shall continue for 30 days after notice of such default, such person, firm, or corporation shall forfeit to this state the sum of $100.00 for each and every day of the continuance of such failure, which forfeiture shall be payable into the state treasury and shall be recoverable in a civil action in the name of the state brought in the county where the person, firm, or corporation has his or its principal office or in any county in which he or it shall do business. It shall be the duty of the Attorney General to prosecute for the recovery of such forfeitures.

   (3) Information obtained by the Commissioner pursuant to the authority of this article shall not be made public by any officer or employee of this state without the authorization of the Commissioner. Such information and records shall not be subject to Article 4 of Chapter 18 of Title 50, providing for the inspection of public records.

Ga. L. 1969, p. 1028, § 27; Ga. L. 2003, p. 140, § 26.