BELGRADE, Serbia-Serbia's government said Thursday it is finalizing a long-delayed restitution law intended to compensate thousands of victims of Communist-era confiscation.

Cabinet minister Milan Parivodic said the draft law on righting the wrongs of Communist Yugoslavia will be presented to parliament later this month and possibly adopted later this year.

The Balkan country is years behind most other former Communist states where authorities have found ways to return real estate, industrial and other property seized after World War II.

"The law will envisage that nationalized property be returned to the (original) owner wherever possible," Parivodic said.

About 130,000 claims have already been made by those seeking the return of assets seized from them or, in most cases, from their parents and grandparents.

Recent estimates based on state archives indicate that the postwar Communist authorities under late leader Josip Broz Tito seized 20,00 pieces of real estate totaling 726 million square meters (7.8 billion square feet) from wealthy owners.

Also seized was industrial property as part of the Communist policy of a strictly state-run economy.

There have been no reliable estimates of the total value of property that needs to be returned in Serbia to its original owners, but authorities have suggested that it may be in excess of €50 billion (US$67 billion).