Proud Muthi Muthi/Gunditjmarra man Phil Egan has fiercely come out to fight serious fraud charges, largely to defend his tarnished standing in the Indigenous community.

In an exclusive, Mr Egan agreed to speak to National Indigenous Times before the case goes to trial.

He appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on August 11 for a filing hearing of the allegations.

"I cannot and must not stay silent," Mr Egan first said last week, "while my reputation is being attacked by the privileged".

The author of a much-publicised report into systematic racism at Hawthorn Football Club felt the motivation behind the 73 offences of using false documents, obtaining financial advantage by deception and receiving secret commissions was questionable.

Detectives from Victoria Police's Financial Crime Squad assert he siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Murray Valley Aboriginal Co-operative from 2010 until 2012.

Mr Egan has pointed to a member of the Robinvale co-operative as the person behind the initial allegations while having cordial relations with the Hawthorn Football Club.

"The timing of the allegations and the charges, given my involvement in a Hawthorn Football Club Cultural Safety review, deserves questioning, to say the least," he said.

"The attempts in this process to crush my reputation and to also diminish my resolve has failed; in fact, my resilience and strength has grown throughout and in time, the truth will be revealed."

The former Richmond star of the 1980s levelled allegations at former four-time AFL premiership coach Alistair Clarkson and football manager Chris Fagan that several First Nations players were racially abused while at the Hawks from 2010 until 2016.

But the AFL has since dismissed the two coaches – now in charge of North Melbourne and Brisbane Lions – of any further action after clearing them of wrongdoing.

Mr Egan reached out over a fear of mainstream media misconstruing his tenure with the Murray Valley Aboriginal Co-operative (MVAC).

His lawyers threatened legal action against the Herald Sun late last year over not first reporting his side of the story.

The 60-year-old believed the court process was the beginning of clearing "my name of the police charges relating to my leadership roles at MVAC".

"I am proud of my achievements during my leadership of MVAC, between 2010-14," Mr Egan said.

He pointed to rectifying the Aboriginal health and wellbeing organisation after it was given a dire show-cause notice prior to his appointment.

"The fact that MVAC survived, and continued to operate effectively, was a significant achievement given that, on my appointment in November 2010, I was faced with the challenge of an insolvent organisation, with a significance tax and superannuation debt, and major compliance issues," Mr Egan said.

"Under my leadership, MVAC not only faced these challenges, (but) we overhauled the whole organisation with updated policies and procedures – and effective structures to manage the operations of every business arm of the organisation.

"We were able overcome the challenges to achieve a position of strength in relation to compliance."