§ 34–705. Failure or refusal to furnish information; furnishing false information; failure to keep proper accounts.

Any officer, agent, or employee of any public utility who shall fail or refuse to fill out and return any blanks, as required by this subtitle, or shall fail or refuse to answer any question therein propounded, or shall knowingly or wilfully give a false answer to any such question, or shall evade the answer to any such question where the fact inquired of is within his knowledge, or who shall, upon proper demand, fail or refuse to exhibit to the Commission or any commissioner or any person authorized to examine the same, any book, paper, account, record, or memoranda of such public utility which is in his possession or under his control, or who shall fail to properly use and keep his system of accounting, or any part thereof, as prescribed by the Commission under this subtitle, or who shall refuse to do any act or thing in connection with such system of accounting when so directed by the Commission or its authorized representative shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than $200 nor more than $1,000 for each offense, and a penalty of not less than $500 nor more than $2,000 shall, on conviction, be imposed on the public utility for each such offense when such officer, agent, or employee acted in obedience to the direction, instruction, or request of such public utility or any general officer thereof.