© ReutersSoldiers and rescue workers search in the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Mexico City, Mexico September 20, 2017.
Authorities have not released the man's name or profession, saying only that he faces possible homicide charges for signing off on the building in 2016. They did tell the press that the collapsed building didn't meet construction specifications legally required for the site and had "little resistance" in an earthquake-prone region.
Outside experts say the building should have been able to withstand the earthquake had it been constructed according to 2016 building standards.
Another person has already been arrested in the case.
The Mexico City Prosecutor's Office has nearly 150 investigations open related to the Sept. 19 earthquake, including the collapse of the Enrique Rebsamen school, where 28 students and teachers were killed. Investigators already found that school officials paid a US$1,400 fine in 2014 in order to avoid being shut down for faulty construction that wasn't up to code.
Social movements protested outside the collapsed school in late September, saying they had long tried to shut the school down suspecting there were "always irregularities" with the school's infrastructure
Another open case includes a six-story office building collapse in the capital's Roma Sur district that killed people 49 people, the highest number of fatalities at any one site.
It's widely suspected that the collapse of the 44 buildings destroyed by the quake and thousands damaged were the result of corruption where unlicensed engineers designed buildings and city auditors received kickbacks for approving unfit structures.
Officials say that future criminal charges such as homicide, fraud and negligence are likely to continue. In total, 369 people were killed in the quake, the majority within Mexico City.
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