TITLE 7 BANKING AND FINANCE

Section 1. Financial Institutions, 7-1-1 through 7-1-1021.

ARTICLE 1 PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO DEPARTMENT OF BANKING AND FINANCE AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS GENERALLY

7-1-66. Method of examination and investigations; special examiners; subpoenas.

1. Examinations and investigations shall be made by the commissioner or by qualified examiners or employees empowered in writing by the department to make examinations or investigations. The department may, when the occasion requires, appoint special examiners and prescribe their duties and powers.
2. Officials authorized to make examinations or investigations shall have the power and authority to administer oaths and to examine under oath any person (including any officer, director, agent, attorney, member, or employee of any financial institution) whose testimony may be relevant to the examination or investigation. Such officials shall have the authority and power to compel the appearance and attendance of any such person and the production by such person of pertinent books and papers, including books and papers to which the person has access because of his position with a financial institution, and for such purposes shall have the authority to issue a subpoena requiring the appearance and attendance of any such person or for the production of any pertinent books and papers.
3. If any person shall fail or refuse to obey an order or subpoena issued by the department, a court of appropriate jurisdiction, upon application by the department, may issue an order requiring such person to appear before the court to show cause as to why he or she should not be adjudged in contempt and punished accordingly for refusal to obey the subpoena.

(Ga. L. 1919, p. 135, art. 2, § 18; Ga. L. 1919, p. 135, art. 3, § 3; Ga. L. 1919, p. 135, art. 20, § 1; Code 1933, §§ 13-318, 13-403, 13-9901; Ga. L. 1966, p. 692, § 20; Code 1933, §§ 41A-307, 41A-9903, enacted by Ga. L. 1974, p. 705, § 1; Ga. L. 1981, p. 1366, § 19; Ga. L. 2017, p. 193, § 2/HB 143.)

The 2017 amendment, effective June 1, 2017, added ", and for such purposes shall have the authority to issue a subpoena requiring the appearance and attendance of any such person or for the production of any pertinent books and papers" immediately preceding the period at the end of the last sentence of subsection (b); and substituted the present provisions of subsection (c) for the former provisions, which read: "If any person shall fail or refuse to appear or to testify or to produce books and papers after being ordered to do so pursuant to this Code section, such failure or refusal may be reported in writing to the principal court; and said court shall thereupon cause a subpoena to be issued requiring such person to attend, testify, and produce books and papers. For failure to obey such subpoena, the person may be adjudged in contempt and punished accordingly.".