§41-4-36. Inspection and production of books, records, accounts, etc.; examination of witnesses.

The Director of Finance and any authorized officer or employee of the Department of Finance shall, in the performance of his official duties, for the purpose of examination, have access to, and the right to copy from, any book, record, account, document, receipt or paper of any of the departments, boards, bureaus, commissions, agencies, offices or institutions of the state or of any of the counties, municipal corporations, political subdivisions or public bodies in the state or of the officers or employees thereof, in such manner as may be reasonable and at reasonable times. The Director of Finance or any officer or employee of the Department of Finance designated by the director, in the performance of his official duties, shall have the power to administer oaths, certify to official acts, take and cause to be taken depositions of witnesses, issue subpoenas, compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of accounts, documents, receipts, papers and testimony, and all witnesses regularly summoned as herein provided shall be paid $.05 per mile each way for the distance traveled plus $3.00 per diem for each day consumed in the hearing and in the traveling to and from the place of hearing. In the event of the failure of any person to comply with any subpoena lawfully issued, or on the refusal of any witness to produce evidence or to testify as to any matter regarding which he may be lawfully interrogated, it shall be the duty of any court of competent jurisdiction or the judge thereof, upon the application of the Director of Finance or any officer of the Department of Finance designated by the director, to compel obedience by attachment proceedings for contempt, as in the case of disobedience of the requirements of a subpoena issued for such court or a refusal to testify therein. A wilfully false material statement in any examination herein provided for shall constitute perjury and be punishable as such.

(Acts 1939, No. 112, p. 144; Code 1940, T. 55, §69.)