Diet member Shingo Nishimura on Monday denied any involvement in shooting attacks allegedly carried out by a supporter and other members of a rightist group arrested earlier this month.

"The case was like a bolt from the blue. I was never involved," the 55-year-old Nishimura, a House of Representatives member of the Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters in Osaka.

He added, however, that he empathized with the "ideas and beliefs" of Ichiro Murakami, a company chairman in Gifu Prefecture who has been implicated in the case.

"We had a relationship of mutual trust," he said.

Nishimura said he is not planning to return donations totaling 2.1 million yen he has received from Murakami, 54, since 1999.

He also said he will continue to serve as an adviser to Token Tomonokai, a Japanese sword lovers' society that is headed by Murakami.

"I don't think I am at fault in any way," he said.

Police suspect Murakami also masterminded an attempted bomb attack targeting Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Tanaka in September.

Nishimura called the incident an "abominable act," though he added that Tanaka's soft diplomatic approach to North Korea is "against Japan's national interests."

The bomb failed to explode.

Nishimura meanwhile said he plans to refuse an offer to chair the Lower House Special Committee on Disasters during the next Diet session, which convenes in January.

Nishimura held a news conference Monday, having been hospitalized from Dec. 8 to 28 due to ill health.

In the latest issue of a monthly magazine published by Murakami, Nishimura wrote an essay expressing his gratitude to Murakami and others for their support in the Nov. 9 general election.

The lawmaker was re-elected to a fourth term.