Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa today hit out at the 'Puravasi Balaya' organization saying that those who have been taken over by dollars can say anything.

He was responding to a question from a journalist outside the Colombo remand prison where he visited his son Namal Rajapaksa.

The journalist asked about the claim by Puravasi Balaya Co-convener Gamini Viyangoda that Shiranthi Rajapaksa's role in financial fraud has to be also investigated.

Rajapaksa said that it is not Shiranthi Rajapaksa but he who has to be taken into custody.

Speaking about the arrest of his sons, Rajapaksa said that he was himself arrested in the 1980s on trumped up charges. "That was done by the Dharmishta Samajaya government. This is done by the Yahapaalana Government. Both are the same."