Just last month there were 14 active criminal cases involving close to $630,000, which was an increase from seven cases and nearly $370,000 as of May.
In total, 13 decisions to take civil recovery action have also been made. For the remaining 11 cases, MSD has either come to an agreement or are continuing to engage on repayment.
MSD's George van Ooyen, the group general manager for client service support, told the Herald there will be more prosecutions to come as ongoing investigations into individuals and businesses are completed.
The ministry also referred 10 cases involving larger sums of money and complex investigations to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) last year.
An SFO spokeswoman said all 10 investigations were ongoing.
As of last week, MSD said it has recouped $798.9m in wage subsidy repayments.
It has completed 15,066 pre-payment and post-payment checks on wage subsidy applications, resolved 5553 allegations of wage subsidy misuse, and completed 543 wage subsidy-related investigations.
"Our integrity work to date has given us confidence that the vast majority of businesses that received wage subsidies did so honestly," van Ooyen said.
"A lot of times where wage subsidies were wrongly claimed, it was an honest misunderstanding about eligibility rather than a deliberate attempt to deceive."
van Ooyen said MSD continues to review and investigate applications where potential fraud or incorrect payment has been identified, as well as respond to allegations of wage subsidy misuse.
An Auckland man, understood to be the first to face a criminal court for wage subsidy fraud, was due to be sentenced last week.
Saleem Adbdul pleaded guilty to three charges of receiving stolen property over $18,745 of wage subsidy payments claimed during lockdowns in 2020.
Abdul, who is described in charging documents as a "senior technical consultant", will now be sentenced in October after an administrative court delay.
Data released in May showed the wage subsidy scheme supported 47 per cent of jobs in the country.
In 2020, 69 per cent of employed men and 54 per cent of women were supported by a wage subsidy. This fell to 54 per cent and 41 per cent in 2021.
A review by Auditor-General John Ryan, released in May last year, told MSD to toughen up its approach to possible misuse of the wage subsidy scheme.
The report urged MSD and other departments to prosecute companies it believed had wrongly accessed the scheme.
"Because this approach has greater risks of fraud and error, strong post-payment checks are vital to verify that those who received money were eligible," Ryan said.
He also criticised the work MSD did to test whether employers were complying with the rules.
"After payment, MSD's reviews mainly consisted of a verbal confirmation of information by employers," Ryan wrote.
"Although the Ministry of Social Development has publicly described these reviews as audits, in my view they are not audits. In most cases, they did not involve substantiating the facts using independent, or at least documented, information."
Ryan also noted the departments which managed the scheme had identified "a number" of applicants that they considered might have acted unlawfully.
"In my view, it is important to pursue prosecutions of these applicants. This is because it is important to maintain public trust and confidence in government schemes," Ryan said.
The Auditor-General did praise the departments which managed the scheme, especially MSD, given the limited time they had to establish it.
