The High Court in Lilongwe has turn down the plea by Malawi government to release  the six buses suspected to have been bought using the plundered money at Capitol Hill dubbed cash gate.

The buses were bought at about K520 million (US$1 277 641.3) by Ministry of Tourism.

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Bruno Kalemba filed to the court the proposal to release  the 65-seater Scania Marcopolo Torino buses supplied by Automotive Products Limited (APL), the local franchise dealer for Scania.

They were procured by the ministry’s chief tourism officer Leonard Karonga.

The Ministry of Tourism disowned the buses.

But in its determination on Thursday, the Justice Fiona Mwale dismissed the State’s application as “immature” because the trial has not yet started

The State asked the court that the six Scania Marcopolo Torino buses fraudulently purchased in the name of Ministry of Tourism using government money be disposed off by the State.