The magistracy had been acquiring more and more the character of an oligarchy; all power was practically in the hands of a few closely-related families; and the gravest peculation and malversation took place without hindrance.
The second governorship of Clive was marked by the transfer of the diwani or financial administration from the Mogul emperor to the Company, and by the enforcement of stringent regulations against the besetting sin of peculation.
He was tried by a court of inquiry, who found that his conduct to natives had been "unjustifiable and oppressive," that he had used abusive language to his native officers and personal violence to his men, and that his system of accounts was "calculated to screen peculation and fraud."
The tahsildars check the accounts of the kabz-i-mals, and, if they discover peculation, send them at once to be dealt with by the chief official authorities of the Gaza (department); all the electors of a mukhtar are, ipso facto, joint sureties for him.
Maladministration and peculation of public moneys go hand in hand, without any vigorous measures being adopted to put a stop to the scandal.