UK taxpayers have already shelled out £120 million to Rwanda over the controversial deportation project - and won't get it back if judges torpedo the scheme.
Today officials from the central African nation said that the cash was already committed and much of it had already been spent when grilled over whether it might be returned.
The High Court is currently weighing up whether the UK government's plan to remove refugees to Rwanda is legal, with deportations understood to be on hold until at least September.
The Hope Hostel in Kigali, where refugees will be housed if it goes ahead, is currently sitting empty while the legal challenge - brought by several asylum seekers, the Public and Commercial Services union and charities - unfolds.
Representatives this morning hit back after it emerged the UK's high commissioner to Rwanda had warned against the partnership.
Court papers this week revealed Joanne Lomas, who has since left her post, last year voiced concerns that asylum seekers had been recruited to fight for the Rwandan armed forces in conflicts abroad.
Despite concerns from human rights activists, both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have indicated they plan to continue with the plan if they win the race for Downing Street.
Last month a plane carrying asylum seekers was stopped at the eleventh hour following an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights.
Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo confirmed that if the scheme were to be scrapped, the UK government would not be able to claim back the cash it has already shelled out.
"There was an initial transfer of £120 million, this has already been paid and we're using these funds to prepare," she said when asked if the payment may be returned.
"It's paid over, it's committed, part of it has been used and we're committing the rest of it to ensure that we're ready to receive the migrants."
Meanwhile Doris Uwicyeza Picard, chief advisor to the Rwandan Minister of Justice, said: "There has been some commitment to ensure that we are prepared to receive them and accommodate them properly."
Ms Picard she was "confident" the programme was legal, but added: "In the eventuality that the court would see fit to deem otherwise, we're committed to continue working and providing African solutions to these problems."
It is understood that future payments would be made to Rwanda once the programme gets underway, but the Home Office today declined to comment on the potential numbers.
Ms Picard said: "The financial commitments are contingent on the arrival of people, of relocated individuals so everything that is in place is in preparation for that."
Ms Makolo hit back at the allegations of asylum seekers being recruited to fight in conflicts.
"This was the opinion of the former high commissioner, I think it was based on wrong information," she said.
"It is wrong to accuse us of that sort of thing, what we do is offer people a home and safety here, we do not get involved in recruitment for whatever armed movements."
A memo from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office from May last year urged the government not to strike a deal with Rwanda because of human rights concerns.
But Ms Makolo hit back, saying that much of the world takes too narrow a view of African nations.
"When you pull back and look at this with a wider lens, part of the reason people think they should be living in Europe or richer countries is they think the streets are paved with gold," she said.
"Part of the reason is this narrative that is cast by different media that Africa is a hellhole, it's presented as a terrible place to live, which is untrue."
Ms Picard said that the judicial proceedings were the sole reason for the delay, stating that contenders for the Tory leadership were behind the project.
"The delay in the relocation of individuals is solely due to the judicial review," she said.
"From my understanding and this is something that has been communicated by all the candidates to the Prime Minister position is that they fully support this partnership, this is a government policy rather than tied to a specific individual, they're all in full support.
"As long as the judicial review has established the legality of this partnership, we should expect to have the first relocations happen almost immediately."
A Home Office spokesman told The Mirror: "We're confident our partnership is completely legal, our position is that we've provided the Rwandan government with £120 million as part of that partnership."
He declined to elaborate on future payment agreements, whether further cash would be committed if the partnership was scrapped.
The ongoing court cases have raised the prospect that a flight may not be attempted again until the winter.
Some migrants issued with Rwanda removal directions have already been released from immigration detention because, as yet, another flight has not been lined up.
