According to The Times, the raids are thought to be a direct result of Japan's recently enacted "whistle-blower law", a significant legal change pushed through by the JFTC that grants amnesty to the first corporation within a price-fixing cartel to own up.
The raids on Sharp and Hitachi centre on allegations that the two Companies conspired to fix the price of the liquid crystal screens on the Nintendo DS which has sold more than 65 million units since its launch.
The Times go on to say that When the DS was released in 2004, Sharp met 100 per cent of supply. A year later, as Nintendo struggled to meet soaring worldwide demand, Hitachi joined as a supplier of LCD panels.
