TORONTO - Sino-Forest Corp. said Thursday it has again extended the implementation date of its restructuring plan.

The company says additional work is still necessary before the plan can become effective, so the implementation date has been pushed back to on or about Jan. 29.

The Chinese forestry company had previously expected to roll out the plan on Jan. 23 after it added another named third-party defendant under the plan and reduced its unresolved claims reserve.

Sino-Forest was driven into a Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act restructuring after it was accused of being a massive fraud and had initially hoped to implement the plan on Jan. 17.

The earlier extension came as the company said another defendant has been added to the list of named third-party defendants under the plan.

The addition allowed the company to reduce the reserve for unresolved claims against Sino-Forest to $1.7 million from $28.5 million.

The company was first accused in 2011 of being a Ponzi scheme by Muddy Waters Research, prompting investigations by the Ontario regulator and the RCMP.

The company and several former executives have since also been accused of lying to investors and attempting to mislead investigators.

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