Sagar Adani The Man Who Kept “Bribe Notes” On His Phone. Questioning The Very DNA Of Adani Group And The Hotbed Of Corruption That India Is!

Gautam Adani, the architect behind India’s largest conglomerate, seems to have left behind more than just a business empire. His alleged “style of questionable dealings” appears to have trickled down to the younger generation, Sagar Adani now thrust into the spotlight as a massive bribery scandal unfolds.

For a decade Adani has enjoyed the rapid growth of a towering business empire with global ambitions. But in recent years , it’s not the towering achievements that have caught the spotlight—it’s the crumbling morality underpinning it all.

At the center of this storm is Sagar Adani, the Executive Director of Adani Green Energy Limited (AEGL), and nephew of Gautam Adani, and for a man hailed as the face of the future for Adani Green Energy, Sagar Adani’s journey from a promising young leader to a central figure in a $265 million bribery scandal has left observers questioning not just his ethics, but the very DNA of the Adani Group.

A Rising Star Tumbles into Darkness

Sagar Adani’s career path seemed tailor-made for success. Armed with an Economics degree from Brown University, he joined the family business in 2015. By leveraging his academic background and the group’s resources, he spearheaded Adani Green Energy’s foray into solar and wind power. On paper, he appeared to be the kind of leader India needed—young, innovative, and focused on sustainable energy.

But behind the polished façade little did we know lay a murkier reality. In a conversation with Indian students in 2020, Sagar Adani was asked how he deals with risk. He responded: “When you talk about risk, every single thing that you do in business, there is a risk associated with it.”

Almost as scandalous as the Hindenburg report, U.S. prosecutors recently disclosed what can only be described as a shocking abuse of power. Dubbed “bribe notes,” Sagar Adani allegedly used his phone to meticulously document hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian officials.

The notes were far from casual observations. They detailed everything—from the amount paid to specific government officials, to the per-megawatt bribe rate required to secure lucrative power contracts. In one startling WhatsApp exchange, Sagar reportedly commented, “Yup…but the optics are very difficult to cover.”

Those optics indeed became impossible to cover when both Sagar and Gautam Adani, along with six others, were indicted by U.S. prosecutors for their roles in an intricate scheme that promised to yield $2 billion in profits over two decades.

A Scandal Too Detailed to Deny

Sagar Adani’s alleged bribe-tracking habits were anything but amateur. Prosecutors revealed how, in February 2021, he doubled “incentives” to push for power purchase acceptances in Jammu & Kashmir and Chhattisgarh. By July of the same year, the bribes escalated to hundreds of thousands of dollars in Odisha for a 500 MW deal.

The most brazen incident? An alleged $200 million bribe offered to Andhra Pradesh government officials, including its Chief Minister, for a colossal 7,000 MW power contract.

Adding another layer of audacity, the filings state that Sagar and Gautam Adani worked to recover portions of bribes paid out. Meetings between the Adanis and executives of Azure Power—a company allegedly involved in the scandal—focused on ensuring Azure delivered its share of the bribe money.

So, who are these shadowy players, and why are they crucial to the investigation?

Co-Conspirators, Are They Whistleblowers or Wrongdoers?

The indictment suggests that these individuals initially played roles in suppressing evidence, deleting documents, and misleading authorities. But here’s the twist—legal experts believe they eventually turned cooperative witnesses, providing U.S. prosecutors with granular details about the conception, planning, and execution of the bribery scheme.

While their names remain sealed, breadcrumbs in the court papers offer intriguing clues.

Co-Conspirator 1: The Soft-Spoken Brit with a High Profile
Described as a UK citizen based in Hong Kong and the non-executive chairman of a U.S. issuer and its subsidiary from 2021 to 2023, Co-Conspirator 1 is widely speculated to be Alan Rosling.

Rosling’s resume is as impressive as it is extensive. A former executive director at Tata Sons, he was instrumental in the company’s global expansion and earned a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2014. More recently, he served as the chairman of Azure Power Global and its Indian subsidiary during a period marked by financial irregularities and whistleblower complaints.

Rosling’s involvement with Azure began in late 2021, right around the time allegations of improper payments to Indian officials started to surface. He left Azure in October 2023, just as the scandal reached a boiling point.

Co-Conspirator 2: The Indian Executive in the Hot Seat
Identified only as a high-ranking executive at the same U.S. issuer from 2019 to 2022, Co-Conspirator 2 is believed to be Murali Subramanian, Azure Power’s former COO. Subramanian’s abrupt resignation, announced on April 26, 2022, alongside then-CEO Ranjit Gupta, aligns closely with the timeline mentioned in the court documents.

The indictment paints a picture of Subramanian’s role in the bribery scheme, highlighting his participation in meetings and decisions that allegedly funneled improper payments to secure power contracts.

The Code Names and Codenames

The court filings also reveal an almost cinematic layer to the scandal—code names. Gautam Adani was referred to as SAG, Mr. A, Numero Uno, and even The Big Man, while his CEO at Adani Green Energy, Vneet Jain, was tagged as The Snake, Numero Uno minus one, or simply V. These monikers reflect a troubling level of secrecy and collusion, indicating the systemic nature of the alleged corruption.

The disclosure of this bribery scheme owes much to whistleblowers who raised red flags about financial impropriety at Azure Power. Two separate complaints in May and September 2022 set off a chain reaction, leading to a multi-agency investigation in the U.S.

Azure Power’s annual report from 2022-23 disclosed these complaints, which included allegations of improper payments to Indian government officials. These revelations dovetailed with the timing of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Azure and Adani Green Energy, further tightening the noose around the accused.

India, Is Still A Hotbed For Massive Corruption

This scandal raises uncomfortable questions again—not just about Sagar Adani, but about the corporate culture thriving within the Adani Group. Is this the price of doing business at the scale and speed the conglomerate has pursued? Or is it a reflection of a deeper malaise in India’s business and governance ecosystems?

Critics have long argued that the Adani Group’s meteoric rise has always been shadowed by allegations of impropriety. But this time, the allegations have gone international, and the evidence is damning. With U.S. prosecutors and the SEC now involved, the fallout could reverberate far beyond India’s borders.

This isn’t just about one scandal or one company, although Adani Group has been called out repeatedly for many misdoings but until now the company and the leadership has been able to dodge the balls, perhaps this time it might not be as easy!

More importantly, it’s about the future of ethical business in India. If India’s leading conglomerates continue to prioritize shortcuts over integrity, what message does that send to the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders?

For Sagar Adani, this is likely the beginning of a long legal battle. For the Adani Group, it’s a reputational crisis of epic proportions. And for India, it’s a moment to reflect on whether the price of economic growth should ever come at the cost of moral bankruptcy and where does this lead the present governemnt—will India learn from this, or will the cycle of power, profit, and corruption continue unabated?