Cabinet has rescinded decisions to grant land leases to Blue Waters Products Ltd, and Attorney General John Jeremie, SC, has forwarded the matter to the police.A Government official yesterday confirmed this in response to questions from the Express.The matter involves 450 acres on the Orange Grove Estate.Blue Waters is owned by Dominic Hadeed and his wife, Genevieve, who were arrested on June 24 at their Westmoorings home while police investigated an alleged conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the Attorney General and other members of the Government, as well as alleged offences under the Emergency Powers Regulations.

‘BLUE-COLLAR CRIME’:John Jeremie

The Express understands that on May 5, 2026, the Minister of Lands and Legal Affairs Saddam Hosein wrote to Hadeed, informing him of Cabinet’s decision to rescind decisions of the former PNM administration with respect to the leases of prime agricultural lands that were initially leased to French spirits giant Pernod Ricard in 1995.Blue Waters acquired the local holdings of Pernod Ricard in 2007 and has since been in negotiations with successive governments regarding the leases.Since October 2025, Hosein had flagged the matter in Parliament during the national budget debate.Without calling names, Hosein said the former government, days before the April 28 general election, at its last Cabinet meeting on April 17, 2025, rushed the approval of a lease for a “water company”.He said on the night before the election, April 27, 2025, a WhatsApp voice note was sent by a person named a former PNM general election candidate who worked in the Office of the Attorney General.He said the voice note instructed a person to proceed with the file.“Basically what she is saying, Mr Speaker, in the voice note is that the AG just gave the instruction, the file can’t reach by you as yet, proceed with the lease,” he said, noting that the former AG at that time was Camille Robinson-Regis.He said on April 25, 2025, a note was issued, stating: “Please be advised that the Civil Law Department is hereby instructed to prepare the requisite leases to give effect to the Cabinet decision.”Hosein said there was an issue with the Cabinet decision, as there were two commercial leases to be granted—C1 and C2.The minister said the lease price for C1 was cut in half by Cabinet in 2019.He said with regard to C2, the approved premium was $50 million, but the offer made was $22.1 million.He said when public servants got wind of this, no lease was prepared from 2019 to 2022.“Mr Speaker, do you know what is the lease price that the last Cabinet approved for that water company? They using a 2015 valuation to grant a lease in 2025,” he said.“What is strange about this is that they were hurrying this thing to the end that the night before the general election you have man from the AG office calling public servants to tell them ‘aye, prepare that lease you know’. You know why, Mr Speaker? They got wind that they were going to lose the general election.”Hosein said at the time, Jeremie had the file, adding: “AG I ask and I plead with you that advice and direction be given on this matter because we are not going to allow these things to sit silently.”In June 2026, Jeremie, speaking in Parliament during the debate on the extension of the state of emergency, briefly touched on the matter, saying he would, for the moment, refrain from discussing State leases and what he described as extraordinary steps taken, up to the night of the general election, to secure valuable State lands.“This matter is now before the Commissioner of Police. Mr Speaker, it is also a well-known fact that those opposite not simply turned a blind eye to white-collar gang-related activity, they turned a blind eye to blue-collar crime and the expanding grip of the blue-collar gangs in our society,” he said.Hadeed’s affidavitIn an affidavit dated July 3, 2026, Hadeed claimed the land issue was connected to his detention.Hadeed stated Blue Waters Products Ltd acquired the holdings of PR Trinidad Ltd in 2007 and took possession of lands for which PR Trinidad held leasehold interests that were due to expire in 2015.He said discussions with the State regarding the grant of agricultural and commercial leases continued for years under several administrations and that, during that period, Blue Waters remained in occupation of the lands and invested substantial sums in their development based on assurances that formal leases would eventually be granted.According to Hadeed, three successive Cabinets approved offers and amendments relating to the leases.He said Cabinet approved offers for parcels involving Blue Waters Products Ltd in 2019 and subsequently approved further offers in 2022 involving Blue Waters Products Ltd, OG C1 Property Ltd and OG C2 Property Ltd.He maintained that although formal lease documents had not been executed, binding agreements existed between the companies and the State.These, he said, included offer letters from the Commissioner of State Lands, acceptance letters, and payments of premiums and processing fees.Hadeed noted that on March 25, 2026, he publicly criticised Government ministers at a Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association event over taxation and unpaid VAT refunds.He said he argued that Government “receives a substantial share of what business owners earn without itself investing” and urged ministers to engage with the business community. The comments were widely reported in the media.Less than two months later, he said, the Government moved against the leases.Hadeed stated that on May 5, 2026, Minister Hosein informed him by letter that Cabinet had agreed to rescind previous decisions granting leases to Blue Waters Products Ltd, OG C1 Property Ltd and OG C2 Property Ltd.Hadeed argued that the significance of the May 5 correspondence was heightened by a second letter issued on the same day by the Attorney General.According to the affidavit, Jeremie informed him that all events connected with the granting of the leases had been referred to the Commissioner of Police for investigation.Hadeed said he immediately retained attorneys Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, Ronnie Bissessar, Vijaya Maharaj and Nyala Badal to represent him in relation to the matter.His attorneys subsequently wrote to the Government asserting that the companies had acted “at all material times bona fide and in accordance with law, having concluded binding and legally enforceable agreements for leases”.Hadeed claimed that on June 22, two days before police officers arrived at his Westmoorings home, his attorneys sent a detailed pre-action protocol letter to the Attorney General.