EDA task force launching recertification program

The task force convened to investigate tax incentives doled out by the Economic Development Authority on Friday announced it would create a recertification program that would allow award recipients to prove if they’re compliant with program requirements.

“We are announcing today a Task Force recertification program that will allow companies who believe they are in compliance to prove so, and for us to focus our efforts on more problematic cases,” task force chairman Ronald Chen said.

The task force’s first hearing lent an explosive start to the panel’s investigation Thursday.

Gulsen Kama, formerly the vice president of financial planning and analysis for Jackson Hewitt, told the panel that the Jersey City-based tax preparing firm lied on an application for an award under the EDA’s Grow NJ program.

The whistleblower testified that, upon the advice of Princeton-based consulting firm Biggins Lacy Shapiro & Company, Jackson Hewitt falsely told state officials it was considering a move to New York or Florida.

She said then-CEO David Prokupek told her the company had already decided to move its headquarters from Parsippany to Jersey City.

“There was untruthful information in the application submitted,” Kama said.

Jackson Hewitt denied Kama’s allegations and said it planned to cooperate with the task force’s investigation.