The public defender, his or her assistants, and every employee of his or her office is expressly prohibited from divulging to any individual not officially connected with his or her office any information obtained by the public defender, his or her assistants, or any employee of that office in the regular course of their duty or from any financial statement submitted under § 12-15-9 or from the records and reports of their investigation, or from the permanent records of that office, which would reveal any of the information relative to the financial status or any person submitting a financial statement. Every request for information directed to the public defender shall be denied if the request would necessitate that individual to divulge any information which is declared in this section to be held confidential by the public defender; provided, the public defender is authorized to divulge the information confidentially held by that office to the court referring a defendant in a criminal case to the public defender’s office.