“Our treasure proves to be but ashes” summed up the essence of statements on Friday by the relevant Greek minister in charge of fighting corruption, who plainly said it was “extremely difficult” to investigate various “lists” of alleged tax-evaders and off-shore companies.

Minister of State Panayiotis Nikoloudis was referring, primarily, to the so-called “Lagarde List” of Greek citizens with deposits in the Geneva branch of HSBC. The name comes from the official who handed the Greek state the sensitive information, current IMF chief Christine Lagarde.

His statements distinctly dampened expectations of large amounts of revenue derived from penalties on untaxed money exported overseas – a theme heard repeatedly throughout the campaign season in Greece by then main opposition SYRIZA.

Nikoloudis’ statements come days after the release of the so-called “Varoufakis list” of reforms sent to institutional creditors, where Athens promises … 725 to 875 million euros in extra revenues from tracking down and taxing cash shipped out of the country.

The minister mentioned the “Swiss factor” as well, saying officials of the alpine banking mecca refuse to cooperate because they assert the information contained on the Lagarde list was illegally obtained.

“If someone tries to conduct a tax audit basely solely on the Lagarde or Luxembourg or Nikoloudis lists, he’s almost certain to wind up with erroneous conclusions.”

He was even more pessimistic on checks of offshore companies, saying that out of 766 such companies showing up on authorities’ radar, only 72 have actually undergone checks and audits.