The oversight body concluded that, “despite the payments made during 2021, the works were not initiated nor was the contracted service provided,” and warned that no evidence was presented of “the termination of the contract” or “the application of conventional penalties.” Likewise, the ASF detected a probable damage to the Public Treasury for more than 90 million pesos in a parallel contract for public lighting modernization, due to the fact that “no justifying evidence of the services rendered was presented, such as monthly notices of progress on goals.” Senator Ruvalcaba Gámez denounced that, in the face of the company's breach of contract, local administrations opted to restructure the debt instead of terminating it. According to what is set forth in the proposal, in August 2024, both the State Congress and the Cabildo of Aguascalientes approved legal and contractual modifications in “Fast Track” sessions to endorse a restructuring of the project. The legislator warned that after the extension of the contract originally signed in 2020 and subsequent restructurings, “the debt amounts to more than 20 billion pesos,” compromising public finances for the coming decades. The businessman Eugenio Javier Maiz Domene, owner of Next Energy, is under arrest and faces two criminal processes: the first for fraud; the second for threats and bribery. Last January 20, the senator from Aguascalientes, Nora Ruvalcaba Gámez, announced the arrest of Maiz Domene; however, Aristegui Noticias confirmed that the arrest warrant against him was carried out since December 2025 in Tamaulipas from where he was transferred to Aguascalientes. In this criminal case, the businessman is accused of fraud for a multi-million dollar and apparently unfulfilled contract with the municipality of Aguascalientes for energy generation. The case is part of the digital file 2502/2025, whose initial hearing was held on December 23 at 10:30 a.m. Shortly after his arrest, Eugenio Maiz was transferred to the Centenario Hospital Miguel Hidalgo as the businessman claimed to have heart problems. He remained there until the 22nd. Upon being discharged, he allegedly attempted to bribe two elements of the State Public Security Secretariat who were transferring him to the Social Reintegration Center for Men of Aguascalientes, which led to the opening of the second investigation file, identified with the numeral 0079/2026. The initial hearing of this second judicial process was held last January 17 and continued this Wednesday 21. The fraud case arises from a multi-million dollar contract that the municipality of Aguascalientes entered into with the company Next Energy for energy generation, which was apparently not fulfilled. Last February, Senator Nora Ruvalcaba Gámez, from the Morena Parliamentary Group, presented a proposal with a point of agreement before the Senate of the Republic to urge the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) to inform the Senate on “the progress and general status of the Investigation Files related to the complaints concerning the Restructuring Agreement of the Public Private Partnership between the Municipality of Aguascalientes, and its Decentralized Bodies, called Energy Efficiency Program with the company Next Energy del Centro S.A. de C.V.”. According to the background detailed in the proposal, the administrative and legal conflict originated in 2019, when a contract was registered on May 20 of that year with the purpose of “providing electric power to the Municipality of Aguascalientes through a photovoltaic park that would be built in the community of Cañada Honda.” This original agreement implied a financial commitment of 3,369 million pesos to be paid in a 30-year term, ending in March 2050.
