Germany’s Handelsblatt proclaimed “Varoufexit” on Thursday, a day after a NYTimes feature article on increasingly controversial Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis wrote that the latter taped portions of the Riga Eurogroup session.

Hounded by reporters on Thursday and in the wake of increasing media criticism over such a prospect, Yanis referred to the article’s claim as “Fairy tales, fairy tales, fairy tales!”

The widely read German financial daily dubbed the controversy as “Riga Gate,” warning that if true the “erratic Marxist’s” tenure in the minister’s seat is numbered.

At this point, of course, it’s going to be impossible to prove it, one way or another – unless the NYTimes reporter … taped her interview with Yanis.

Without missing a queue, Handelsblatt wondered if Varoufakis has also secretly taped other such in camera meetings, while expressing a view that EU officials will be wary of their privates contacts with Varoufakis – regardless of the veracity of the report.