False statements in securing approval for stock issue.

Each and every director, president, secretary, or other official of any such public utility who shall make any false statement to secure the issue of any stock, certificate of stock, bond, mortgage, or other evidence of indebtedness, or who shall, by false statement knowingly made, procure of the Commission the making of the certificate herein provided, or issue, with knowledge of such fraud, negotiate, or cause to be negotiated, any such stock, certificate of stock, bond, mortgage, or other evidence of indebtedness in violation of this subtitle, shall be guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $1,000 or by imprisonment for a term of not less than 1 year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.