KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia seized 1 billion ringgit ($243.49 million) from a bank account of state-owned China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Ltd (CPP), Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Monday.

The seizure comes nearly a year after Malaysia suspended two pipeline projects, valued at $2.3 billion, on which CPP was the lead contractor. CPP is a unit of state energy giant China National Petroleum Corp.

Malaysia seized the funds because CPP was paid for 80% of the project when only 13% of the project had been completed, Mahathir told reporters.

($1 = 4.1070 ringgit)

(Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; Writing by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Edmund Blair) ((ananthalakshmi.as@thomsonreuters.com; +603 2333 8036; Reuters Messaging: ananthalakshmi.as.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter: @AnanthalakshmiA))