From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishclean handsclean handsif a person, government, organization etc has clean hands, they have done something in a fair or legal way Neither side is coming to the negotiating table with completely clean hands. → clean
Examples from the Corpus
clean hands• Bull leaned out of the window, gripping the edge of the crumbling sill with spotlessly clean hands.• Out of this sordid mix of political short-sightedness and commercial greed, no government emerges with clean hands.• Their support is based on a belief that the left governments have clean hands and have improved municipal services.• I wish I had discovered his method of undertaking glassfibre repairs with clean hands and no brush years ago.• The patient himself may pick one up with clean hands, but no one else.• No one comes to the bargaining table with thoroughly clean hands, but we can be thankful that they still show up.From Longman Business Dictionaryclean handsˌclean ˈhands noun [plural] someone with clean hands has not been involved in dishonest activitiesIn a political scandal, it is rare to find anyone with clean hands. 