Eight former officers are suing South Wales Police after being cleared of charges relating to the investigation of Lynette White's murder in 1988.
The corruption trial collapsed in 2011.
A hearing in Cardiff was told there was "no intention" to uncover the truth behind the wrongful conviction of the Cardiff Three.
Former officers Graham Mouncher, Thomas Page, Richard Powell, John Seaford, Michael Daniels, Peter Greenwood, Paul Jennings and Paul Stephen are suing the force for misfeasance in public office, false imprisonment and trespass.
Leslie Thomas QC said allegations of pressurising a witness into giving a false statement against Mr Page were "easily rubbished".
He said one witness voluntarily accompanied Mr Page to the police station and had made no allegation of ill treatment "or anything improper".
Cardiff's Civil Justice Centre was told officers investigating allegations of corruption misidentified Mr Page as someone intimidating a witness in an interview, but he "simply wasn't there".
On Monday, the court heard that murderer Jeffrey Gafoor may not have acted alone when he killed Ms White in a flat in Cardiff's docklands on Valentine's Day.
Tony Parris, Stephen Miller and Yusef Abdullahi - who became known as the Cardiff Three - were wrongly jailed for life in 1990 for the murder and freed in 1992 after their convictions were quashed.
The hearing continues.
A police corruption probe into a prostitute's murder "ignored" evidence which did not match preconceived theories, the High Court has heard.