Mississippi § 75-35-317 - Penalty for failure to give testimony or to furnish documentary evidence, making false reports, failure to file report or making of wrongful disclosure.

§ 75-35-317. Penalty for failure to give testimony or to furnish documentary evidence, making false reports, failure to file report or making of wrongful disclosure.

Any person, firm, or corporation that shall neglect or refuse to attend and testify or to answer any lawful inquiry, or to produce documentary evidence, if in his or its power to do so, in obedience to the subpoena or lawful requirement of the commissioner, shall be guilty of an offense and upon conviction thereof by a court of competent jurisdiction shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), or by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Any person, firm, or corporation that shall willfully make, or cause to be made any false entry or statement of fact in any report required to be made under this chapter, or that shall willfully 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 chapter or that shall willfully neglect or fail to make, or to 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, or that shall willfully remove out of the jurisdiction of this state, or willfully mutilate, alter, or by any other means falsify any documentary evidence of any such person, firm, or corporation or that shall willfully 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, shall be deemed guilty of an offense and shall be subject, upon conviction in any court of competent jurisdiction to a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), or to imprisonment for a term of not more than three (3) years, or to both such fine and imprisonment. If any person, firm, or corporation required by this chapter to file any annual or special report shall fail so to do within the time fixed by the commissioner for filing the same, and such failure shall continue for thirty (30) days after notice of such default, unless for good cause shown on extension for filing same shall be granted by the commissioner, such person, firm, or corporation shall forfeit to this state the sum of one hundred dollars ($100.00) for each and every day of the continuance of such failure, which forfeiture shall be payable into the general fund of the treasury of this state, and shall be recoverable in a civil suit 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 of this state, the county attorney and the district attorney, under the direction of the attorney general of this state, to prosecute for the recovery of such forfeitures in the name of the State of Mississippi. The costs and expenses of such prosecution shall be paid out of the appropriation for the expenses of the courts of this state. Any officer or employee of this state who shall make public any information obtained by the commissioner without his authority, unless directed by a court, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500.00), or by imprisonment, not exceeding one (1) year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. This provision does not apply to the governor, members of the legislature, the attorney general, district attorney, county attorney or sheriff.