Anti-graft officers will have to return - untouched - material seized from the Apple Daily if a judge quashes two search warrants on Monday, a court heard yesterday.
Mr Justice Gareth Lugar-Mawson is to rule on the newspaper's application to set aside the warrants two weeks after they were executed.
Officers from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) seized an unknown amount of material from the newspaper's Tseung Kwan O premises on November 29.
The raid was part of an investigation into allegations the popular newspaper paid for tip-offs from police.
Andrew Bruce SC, for the ICAC, told the Court of First Instance that the material, which has been under lock and key, was with the ICAC.
Philip Dykes, SC, for the newspaper, asked for the material to be returned if the judge ruled in its favour and Mr Bruce did not contest.
'These warrants on the face of it are defective and so defective that they are invalid. You should set them aside,' Mr Dykes urged Mr Justice Lugar-Mawson.