Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail should explain the reasons for not appealing against the acquittal of former transport minister Ling Liong Sik over the Port Klang Free Trade Zone (PKFZ) fiasco, said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

Khairy said an explanation is necessary as it was a matter of public interest.

"I think it is a public interest case and there must be some clarification on the part of the attorney-general if he is not pursuing an appeal and what grounds there are (for not appealing).

"This (PKFZ) is a very important case and I think the public wants to know what the reasons behind this are," he told journalists in Bukit Jalil this afternoon.

Ling, who was former MCA president, was acquitted on Oct 25 of cheating the government in the multi-billion PKFZ project after the Kuala Lumpur High Court found that the defence had successfully created doubt in the prosecution's case.

The ex-transport minister was accused of failing to disclose to the cabinet an interest rate of 7.5 percent per annum on the purchase price of the land for the PKFZ project, costing the government an additional RM720 million.

Deputy solicitor-general II Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah on Friday, the deadline for lodging an appeal, confirmed to Malaysiakini that the prosecution does not intend to appeal the verdict.