(a) The Secretary 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 engaged in intrastate commerce and the relation thereof to other persons; (2) To require, by general or special orders, persons engaged in intrastate commerce, or any class of them, or any of them, to file with the Secretary in such form as the Secretary may prescribe, annual or special, or both annual and special reports or answers in writing to specific questions, furnishing to the Secretary such information as the Secretary may require as to the organization, business, conduct, practices, management, and relation to other persons, of the person filing such reports or answers in writing. Such reports and answers shall be made under oath, or otherwise, as the Secretary may prescribe, and shall be filed with the Secretary within such reasonable period as the Secretary may prescribe, unless additional time be granted in any case by the Secretary. (b) (1) For the purpose of this chapter the Secretary shall at all reasonable times have access to, for the purpose of examination, and the right to copy any documentary evidence of any person 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 relating to any matter under investigation. The Secretary may sign subpoenas and may administer oaths and affirmations, examine witnesses, and receive evidence; (2) Such attendance of witnesses, and the production of such documentary evidence, may be required at any designated place of hearing. In case of disobedience to the subpoena the Secretary may invoke the aid of any court designated in § 8718 of this title in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence; (3) Any of the courts designated in § 8718 of this title within the jurisdiction of which such inquiry is carried on may, in case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena issued to any person, issue an order requiring such person to appear before the Secretary or to produce documentary evidence if so ordered, or to give evidence touching the matter in question; and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof; (4) Upon the application of the Attorney General of this State at the request of the Secretary, the Superior Court shall have jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus commanding any person to comply with this chapter or any order of the Secretary made in pursuance thereof; (5) The Secretary may order testimony to be taken by deposition in any proceeding or investigation pending under this chapter at any stage of such proceeding or investigation. Such depositions may be taken before any person designated by the Secretary and having power to administer oaths. Such testimony shall be reduced to writing by the person taking the deposition, or a person under his or her direction, and shall then be subscribed by the deponent. Any person may be compelled to appear and depose and to produce documentary evidence in the same manner as witnesses may be compelled to appear and testify and produce documentary evidence before the Secretary as provided in this section; (6) Witnesses summoned before the Secretary shall be paid the same fees and mileage that are paid witnesses in the courts of this State, and witnesses whose depositions are taken and the persons taking the same shall severally be entitled to the same fees as are paid for like services in such courts; (7) No person shall be excused from attending and testifying or from producing books, papers, schedules of charges, contracts, agreements or other documentary evidence before the Secretary or in obedience to the subpoena of the Secretary whether such subpoena be signed or issued by him or his delegate, or in any cause or proceeding, criminal or otherwise, based upon or growing out of any alleged violation of this chapter or of any amendments thereto, on the ground or for the reason that the testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of him or her or it may tend to incriminate him or her or it or subject him or it to a penalty or forfeiture; but no individual shall be prosecuted or subjected to a penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, or thing concerning which he or she is compelled, after having claimed his or her privilege against self-incrimination, to testify or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, except that any individual so testifying shall not be exempt from prosecution and punishment for perjury committed in so testifying or contempt after having received immunity from prosecution. (c) (1) Any person who shall neglect or refuse to attend and testify or to answer any lawful inquiry, or to produce documentary evidence, if in his or her or its power to do so, in obedience to the subpoena or lawful requirement of the Secretary shall upon conviction thereof by a court of competent jurisdiction be punished by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000, or by imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or by both such fine and imprisonment; (2) Any person who shall wilfully 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 wilfully make, or cause to be made, any false entry in any account, record, or memorandum kept by any person subject to this chapter or that shall wilfully 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 or that shall wilfully remove out of the jurisdiction of this State, or wilfully mutilate, alter, or by any other means falsify any documentary evidence of any person subject to this chapter or that shall wilfully refuse to submit to the Secretary or to any of the Secretary's his authorized agents, for the purpose of inspection and taking copies, any documentary evidence of any person subject to this chapter in his or her possession or within his or her control, shall be subject, upon conviction, to a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000, or to imprisonment for a term of not more than 3 years, or to both such fine and imprisonment; (3) If any person required by this chapter to file any annual or special report shall fail so to do within the time fixed by the Secretary for filing the same, and such failure shall continue for 30 days after notice of such default, such person shall forfeit to this State the sum of $100 for each and every day of the continuance of such failure, which forfeiture shall be payable into the General Fund of this State, and shall be recoverable in a civil suit in the name of the State brought in the county where the person has his or her or its principal office or in any county in which he or she or it shall do business. It shall be the duty of the various Deputies Attorney General, under the direction of the Attorney General of this State, to prosecute for the recovery of such forfeitures. The costs and expenses of such prosecution shall be paid out of the appropriation for the expenses of the courts of this State; (4) Any officer or employee of this State who shall make public any information obtained by the Secretary, without his authority, unless directed by a court, or use any such information to his own advantage, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $5,000, or by imprisonment, not exceeding 1 year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court; (5) Superior Court shall have jurisdiction over the offenses in this section.
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