§ 70-5-125. Liability for voting for false claim.

A.  Every member of the board of education or board of county commissioners who shall hereafter vote for the payment of any money or transfer of any property belonging to the school district in settlement of any claim known to such member to be fraudulent or void, or in pursuance of any unauthorized, unlawful or fraudulent contract or agreement made or attempted to be made, for any school district, by any officer or officers thereof, and every person having notice of the facts with whom such unauthorized, unlawful or fraudulent contract shall have been made, or to whom, or for whose benefit such money shall thereafter be paid, or such transfer of property shall be made, shall be liable in damage to all innocent persons in any manner injured thereby and shall be liable to the school district affected for double the amount of all sums of money so paid, and double the value of property so transferred, as a penalty to be recovered by civil suit brought by the board of education of such school district, or by any school district elector thereof, as provided in Section 5-126 of this title.

B.  Any member of a board of education of a school district who votes for the payment of any money or transfers any property belonging to the school district in settlement of any claim known to such member to be fraudulent, void or in pursuance of any unauthorized, unlawful or fraudulent contract or agreement made or attempted to be made for any such district shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.  Every person having notice of the facts with whom any unauthorized, unlawful or fraudulent contract shall have been made or to whom or for whose benefit such money or property shall have been or thereafter will be paid shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.  Upon conviction of a misdemeanor described in this section, the person shall make full restitution of all monies and/or property misallocated and be punished by a fine of not less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or by imprisonment in the county jail for not to exceed one (1) year, or by both such fine and restitution and imprisonment and if such person is a member of a board of education, shall be removed from office pursuant to Section 1181 et seq. of Title 22 of the Oklahoma Statutes or Section 91 et seq. of Title 51 of the Oklahoma Statutes.

C.  Such illegal payment of money shall include, but shall not be limited to, salaries or any compensation paid to any person for teaching or performing other services for the district when such person does not have a written contract required by law or does not hold a valid certificate as required by law or by rules and regulations of the State Board of Education for the subjects taught or services performed and which is valid for the entire time for which such person has been paid.  Any person receiving an illegal payment knowing or having reasonable cause to believe such payment to be illegal shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be subject to the punishment prescribed in subsection B of this section.

Laws 1971, c. 281, § 5-125, eff. July 2, 1971; Laws 1991, c. 236, § 7, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.