[weinzierl]

Sure. My point was more that they might possibly not want to openly admit that they are in the possession of the original files.

I'm sure law enforcement has lists with hashes of incriminating files, but I'm not sure if they are allowed to keep the original files. Even if they are, maybe they just want to avoid public discussion about it.

[foldr]

It's logically impossible for them to have the hashes of the files without having had the files at some point. If they no longer have the files, you might just as well take their word for it as to the content of the files as take their word for it what the hashes of the files are.