Maria Cerqueira Gomez reveals her intimate relationship with Manuel Serrao and provokes the businessman: “With a house like this, would you still prefer to live in hotels?” -Mag

For many, he was just one of the visible faces of football commentary, for others he was the face they once saw on screen in the historic program “A Noite da Má Língua”, and for fans of the fashion world, he still is. The man is closely linked to the Portuguese textile and fashion industry, which has raised the name of our designers across borders.

Manuel Serrao It was a bit of all that, especially since there wasn't much that the businessman revealed. He is reserved, has never talked about his private life, about his ex-wife, he has said little about his daughter, who has now reached adulthood, and on his social networks we have only seen very vague photos, linked only to his professional life.

“My private life is private. I don't like it or need it. I don't want to show up when it suits me and then hide when it suits me. Television took away my privacy, which I valued so much. Twenty years ago I wasn't coping well, I'd go anywhere and people would all look at me. This bothered me. But it also brought me a luxury that I would not have had otherwise,” he said in one of the few personal interviews he gave, specifically with one of his celebrity friends, Maria Cerqueira Gomez.

Manuel Serrao and Maria Cerqueira Gomez
Image: flash

In the same conversation in 2021 for the program 'Tell me'Serrão received the lieutenant colonel at a luxurious villa he owned in the north, which was owned by his parents, in Mindelo, Vila do Conde. In the photos it is possible to see the businessman by the pool with Cerqueira Gomez who, jokingly, could not resist teasing him.

Manuel Serrao and Maria Cerqueira Gomez
Image: flash

“With a house like this, would you still prefer to live in hotels?“, he said, explaining that at the time it actually made sense, something that the judicial police are now investigating in Operation Maestro, where Manuel Serrao, 64 years old, was accused of using nearly $40 million obtained through European funds. For his own benefit, in a scheme that involved several of his companies and that even included the complicity of journalist Julio Magalhães, one of his oldest friends.

Manuel Serrao's house in Mindelo
Image: flash

Faced with Maria's provocation, Manuel Serrao responded that his parents' house with a swimming pool did not have all the necessary conditions to live there full-time. “This is not my house, it belongs to my parents. The house is not prepared for winter, only for summer, so it is not comfortable in winter.”To justify why he lived in a luxury hotel, now known as the Sheraton, in Porto, which served as the businessman's home for about eight years, in an extremely lavish lifestyle supported by European money obtained from the textile industry. Companies in Porto.

In that same interview, Manuel Serrao vaguely opened the door to his intimate relationship, but he did not fail to mention to María Cerqueira Gómez that, in the end, he only agreed to talk about certain things because of the friendship that united them.

“There were indeed things you said here, I said them only because I know you well and because I later trust what will come.”He finished.

Manuel Serrao
Image: flash

Maria Cerqueira Gomez is just one of many famous friends who are part of the most private sphere in the world Manuel Serrao admits that he does not open the door to everyone and is very selective in the choices he makes. Among the elected, for example, Julia Pineirowith whom he worked on Noite da Má Língua, and other colleagues he met in sports commentary, such as Eduardo Barroso, Fernando Cearra, journalist Souza Martins Or course Julio Magalhaes Who he knew practically his whole life.

“My best friends are from this world, as is Fernando Ceara. We lived in the same university school for six years and he was already my friend. I met Dr. Eduardo Barroso on TVI and then we also became very good friends. Souza Martins is someone who behaved with me,” he added. I will never forget him, he is a friend for life. Then there are people I no longer greet at that time and I will die without greeting,” he said, without mentioning the names on the list of enemies. “I made some friends on TV but also some enemies.”

One such name is Pinto da Costa, who was a neighbor of his as a child, and whom he targeted with many of his sports comments.

She spent 370 thousand euros to live in a hotel

Without a fixed abode, after selling his house in Matosinhos to Julio Magalhães, specifically using the European money he had for years, Manuel Serrao moved in 2015 to some of the most exclusive hotels in the city of Invicta, where he still lives.. The total stay during these eight years amounted to approximately 370 thousand euros and was paid for from funds obtained exclusively for other purposes.

Although little is known about his personal life, his secluded life at the hotel showed that Manuel Serrao no longer lived with his daughter's mother and that he did not have a family life related to his home.

In this hotel, Manuel Serrao, who is considered the mastermind of this operation, between 2015 and 2020 was able to obtain European funds to support his approximately 14 companies, in collusion with several people close to him, including Julio Magalhães, who later followed up after… scandal, he suspended his duties at TVI and Rádio Observador.

Regarding the journalist’s participation in this fraudulent scheme, the Public Prosecution stated that JEulio Magalhaes simulated services he did not provide to his friend's companies in order to get money. The payment was justified by appearing as a partner in some of Serrão's companies, such as Modmood, House of Learning and No Trouble, where Júlio Magalhäes appeared as a shareholder or managing partner.

Julio Magalhaes
Image: flash

Now, they both see their lives on hold with a fine-toothed comb, due to a corruption scheme uncovered by the authorities.