The Attorney General, upon the Attorney General's own initiative or upon petition of the commissioner or of 50 or more residents of the State, shall investigate suspected violations of this subchapter. [PL 1999, c. 786, Pt. A, §3 (NEW).] The Attorney General may require, by summons, the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books and papers before the Attorney General related to any such matter under investigation. The summons must be served in the same manner as summonses for witnesses in criminal cases, and all provisions of law related to criminal cases apply to summonses issued under this section so far as they are applicable. All investigations or hearings under this section to which witnesses are summoned or called upon to testify or to produce books, records or correspondence are public or private at the choice of the person summoned and must be held in the county where the act to be investigated is alleged to have been committed, or if the investigation is on petition, it must be held in the county in which the petitioners reside. The expense of the investigation must be paid from the appropriation provided in Title 5, section 203. [PL 1999, c. 786, Pt. A, §3 (NEW).] A Justice of the Superior Court may by order, upon application of the Attorney General, compel the attendance of witnesses, the production of books and papers, including correspondence, and the giving of testimony before the Attorney General in the same manner and to the same extent as before the Superior Court. Any failure to obey such an order may be punishable by that court as a contempt. [PL 1999, c. 786, Pt. A, §3 (NEW).]
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