Businessman Dominic Hadeed has categorically denied he was involved in any plot to assassinate anyone and has filed a detailed affidavit in the High Court alleging that his arrest and continued detention under a preventive detention order (PDO) were politically motivated.He claimed the action against him was pre-determined and based on an unsubstantiated narrative linking members of Trinidad and Tobago’s Syrian-Lebanese community to the so-called “1%”.The 30-page affidavit which was filed on July 3 in support of his constitutional challenge against the Commissioner of Police, the Minister of Homeland Security, the Attorney General and police corporal Eldon Calliste, sets out Hadeed’s account of the events leading to his June 24 arrest and subsequent detention without charge.Hadeed, founder and managing director of Blue Waters Products Limited and who has other business interests, stated that neither he nor his wife, Genevieve Hadeed, has ever been charged with or convicted of any criminal offence.He said they have been detained since June 24 without being interviewed or given an opportunity to respond to the allegations before the PDOs were issued.In his affidavit, Hadeed categorically denied any involvement in a conspiracy to assassinate members of the Government or Parliament.“I have never plotted to assassinate anyone. I have never plotted to engage in any criminal activity whatsoever and I have never acted in any manner prejudicial to public safety by taking steps to carry out the type of allegations that are being levelled against me or otherwise,” he stated.He also indicated that he remains willing to cooperate fully with investigators.According to Hadeed, despite being in custody for days before the PDO was issued, police never interviewed him or put the allegations to him.The affidavit challenges the wording of the PDO, arguing that it fails to identify the alleged statements he supposedly made, the persons to whom they were made, any alleged co-conspirators, or any overt act in furtherance of a murder plot. Hadeed contended the allegations are vague and unsupported by particulars.Part of the affidavit focuses on remarks made by Attorney General John Jeremie during the June 10 parliamentary debate on extending the state of emergency.Hadeed argued that the Attorney General deliberately revived the 2017 Anthony Bourdain interview in which businessman Mario Sabga-Aboud described the Syrian-Lebanese community as “the smallest ethnic group” but “the most powerful.”He contended that the Attorney General’s repeated references to the “one per cent,” Bayshore residents, government land leases and Teteron prison effectively singled out him and other members of the Syrian-Lebanese community before any detention orders had been issued.According to Hadeed, those parliamentary statements amounted to a public foreshadowing of his detention and demonstrate that the decision to detain him had already been made before any meaningful investigation had taken place.He also argued that Government officials have used the “one per cent” label as a political tool to stigmatise a minority ethnic community and alleged that his treatment is the latest manifestation of that campaign.Hadeed further claimed that a long-running dispute with the State over agricultural and commercial leases formed the backdrop to the police investigation that ultimately led to his arrest and detention under a PDO.According to Hadeed, Blue Waters Products Ltd acquired the holdings of PR Trinidad Ltd in 2007 and took possession of lands for which PR Trinidad had held leasehold interests that expired in 2015.He said the company immediately entered discussions with State authorities for new agricultural and commercial leases and, relying on repeated assurances that formal leases would be granted, invested substantial sums in developing the properties.He claimed that over the years, three successive Cabinets approved offers and amendments relating to several parcels of State land involving Blue Waters Products Ltd and associated companies.Although no formal leases were executed, Hadeed maintained that binding agreements existed through offer letters, acceptance letters, and the payment of premiums and processing fees to the Commissioner of State Lands.The affidavit further stated that on March 25, 2026, Hadeed publicly criticised Government ministers during a Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association leadership event concerning business taxation and delays in VAT refunds.He said matters changed weeks later.Hadeed stated that, by letter dated May 5, 2026, Minister of Land and Legal Affairs Saddam Hosein informed him that Cabinet had agreed to rescind previous decisions to grant leases to Blue Waters Products Ltd, OG C1 Property Ltd and OG C2 Property Ltd. He added that Attorney General John Jeremie allegedly referred all matters connected to the proposed leases to the Commissioner of Police for investigation.Hadeed said he retained attorneys, including former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC, who responded to the Government asserting that his companies had acted lawfully and in good faith and had entered into legally enforceable agreements.When further correspondence failed to resolve the issue, his attorneys issued a pre-action protocol letter on June 22 setting out a proposed constitutional claim for breach of the lease agreements.Hadeed claimed that the execution of search warrants two days later reinforced his belief that the police exercise was connected to the land dispute.He stated that when officers arrived at his Bayshore home before dawn on June 24 to seize electronic devices, he “immediately and honestly believed” the operation related to the State land leases because of the Attorney General’s earlier referral of the matter to police.“It never occurred to me, nor could it have, that the exercise had anything to do with any allegation of a plot to murder anyone,” Hadeed stated.Hadeed also pointed to remarks made by the Attorney General during the June 10 parliamentary debate on extending the State of Emergency.He claimed references to persons “living in Bayshore” and “stealing government land and property” were understood by him to relate to his companies’ lease dispute and that subsequent events showed his detention had been foreshadowed.The affidavit further states that the Attorney General referred to “state leases” and “extraordinary steps taken...to secure valuable State lands,” which Hadeed says was a clear reference to the lease matter involving companies under his control.He stated that he believed the searches at his home and business premises related solely to the lease dispute and was shocked to later learn they were connected to an alleged conspiracy to murder Government officials.Hadeed also provided a detailed account of the early morning police operation at his Bayshore home.He said officers searched the residence, seized electronic devices belonging to the family, including those of his children, and later searched Blue Waters’ offices.Hadeed claimed he was not informed that he was under arrest until after the searches had largely concluded and said he was neither cautioned nor advised of his legal rights at the time.Hadeed stated that the sequence of events—the parliamentary statements, the State lease dispute, the search warrants and, ultimately, the preventive detention order - demonstrates that his detention had been decided before any investigation capable of justifying such an order had been completed.He is asking the High Court to find that his constitutional rights have been breached and to grant appropriate constitutional relief as his challenge to the legality of his detention continues.