Cavic said the Orao military company will be placed under civilian control in order to prevent further violations, a day after the Serb entity of Republika Srpska (RS) forwarded an additional report on the scandal to NATO-led peacekeepers.

Bosnia "cannot allow... to be seen as a region that was helping the regime of Saddam Hussein," Cavic stressed.

He denied allegations that RS institutions had been aware of embargo violations by Orao.

The NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) had said it was dissatisfied with the previous Bosnian Serb report on 1,600 pages, forwarded in December, claiming that it failed to address the political responsiblity of the RS authorities.

It had given authorities until March 17 to provide additional information omitted in the report.

The international community is to give its opinion on the report at the end of March at the meeting of Bosnia's Peace Implementation Council in Brussels.

Seventeen Bosnian Serb officials faced charges over the Orao case, including Orao managers. Among them were also four high ranking military officials and chief of staff general Momir Zec, who had been indicted of covering up evidence in the investigation.

The Orao scandal was exposed in September last year, spurring sharp warnings from the West.

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