All reports or returns, in any respect concerning public finances or the reception or disbursement of public funds, made by selectmen or treasurers of towns and auditors or treasurers of cities, regularly in the line of their respective official duties, to any body, meeting or committee acting in a public capacity, shall be verified by the oath of the person or persons making the same. Any person who so verifies any return or report, known to him to be false in fact, or which in any material respect intentionally suppresses or conceals the truth, shall be subject to the penalty provided for false statement.