Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday launched a special task force to probe into how a lucrative tax incentive program championed by former Gov. Chris Christie went off the rails after an audit found “deficient” oversight that may have cost the state millions of dollars.

The move sets the stage for the potential public grilling of current and former administration officials, corporate executives and Trenton power players who set up the programs.

The audit, conducted by the state comptroller, found New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority, which oversaw the incentive programs, may have “improperly awarded, miscalculated, overstated and overpaid” millions in tax credits to companies that pledged to turn the savings into new jobs in the state through the $11 billion programs.

An executive order signed by the Democratic governor on Thursday gives the newly formed task force subpoena power to compel uncooperative witnesses to testify or turn over documents. It will hold public hearings.

The panel, chaired by former New Jersey Public Advocate Ronald Chen, includes a legal team of former federal prosecutors and attorneys with backgrounds in corporate compliance and white collar crime.

The task force adds another layer to the growing controversy over the tax incentive program. Supporters — including Christie, a Republican — said it has helped create and retain employers and jobs in a high-cost state facing stiff competition beyond its borders, while opponents argued the programs lacked proper controls.

The audit, which Murphy ordered soon after taking office, seemed to confirm critics' complaints.

Now the state’s attorney general, a Murphy appointee, is investigating whether any corporations who received tax breaks failed to hold up their end of the deal.

And shortly after Murphy announced the formation of the task force, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, announced the state Legislature would be holding its own public hearing on the program.

Sweeney, who has had a tense relationship with the governor, had been a champion of the programs and laid the blame on program managers for failing to provide oversight.

A state official with knowledge of the decision said Thursday that the task force was necessary to provide a full accounting of what went wrong with the programs. It will have the authority to ask the comptroller’s office to issue subpoenas.

The official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said that while the attorney general’s investigation could lead to lawsuits to recover taxpayer money, it will mostly be conducted in secret. The task force, meanwhile, will dig deeper into the comptroller’s findings and can force witnesses to appear in public.

“The comptroller’s report did not name any names," the official said. "This will.”

It remains unclear who, exactly, will be called to testify. The state official and a spokesman for the governor each declined to identify potential witnesses, but said anyone involved in the program could be asked to appear.

The official said the attorneys working for the task force, who all work for the firm Walden Macht and Haran in New York City, were chosen because of their backgrounds untangling complex corporate finances and because none had deep ties in Trenton.

They include Jim Walden, former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Pablo Quiñones, former deputy chief of the fraud section at the U.S. Justice Department; and Milton Williams, who co-chaired the Moreland Commission, a body in New York that investigated public corruption and led to criminal charges against legislative leaders in that state.

A spokesman for Murphy did not respond to questions regarding how much the firm was being paid.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Samantha Marcus contributed to this report.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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