1. (a) Any officer, manager, director, trustee, owner, employee, or agent of any insurer or any other person with authority over or in charge of any segment of the insurer's affairs must cooperate with the director or his designee in any proceeding under this chapter or any investigation preliminary to the proceeding. The term "person" as used in this section includes any person who exercises control directly or indirectly over activities of the insurer through any holding company or other affiliate of the insurer. "To cooperate" includes, but is not limited to:

   1. (1) To reply promptly in writing to any inquiry from the director or his designee requesting a reply.
   2. (2) To make available to the director or his designee any books, accounts, documents, or other records or information or property of or pertaining to the insurer and in his possession, custody, or control.
2. (b) No person may obstruct or interfere with the director or his designee in the conduct of any delinquency proceeding or any investigation preliminary or incidental thereto.
3. (c) This section may not be construed to abridge otherwise existing legal rights, including the right to resist a petition for liquidation or other delinquency proceedings, or other orders.

4. (d) Any person included within subsection (a) who fails to cooperate with the director or his designee, or any person who obstructs or interferes with the director or his designee in the conduct of any delinquency proceeding or any investigation preliminary or incidental thereto, or who violates any valid order the director or his designee issues under this chapter may:

   1. (1) upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars or to undergo imprisonment for a term of not more than one year, or both, or
   2. (2) after a hearing, be subject to the imposition by the director or his designee of a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand dollars and be subject further to the revocation or suspension of any insurance licenses issued by the director or his designee.

HISTORY: Former 1976 Code Section 38-27-80 [1962 Code Section 37-1308; 1967 (55) 273] recodified as Section 38-39-70 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 1; Former 1976 Code Section 38-5-1860 [1982 Act No. 384, Section 6] recodified as Section 38-27-80 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 1; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 609.