All 20 board members of the Japan Fencing Federation will resign next month for the improper use of money provided by the Japan Sports Council, the JFF announced on Wednesday.

The new members will be elected in the monthly board meeting in March, but the number of members will be reduced to 15.

The new board members have to include a representative of the players association and a person who is familiar with governance.

The JFF agreed with the JSC in 2012 over a contract that the JSC provides up to ¥27,861,457 to the JFF for the "Medal Potential Athlete" program, a development program to find and train future medal hopes.

But the JSC found last December that part of the money was improperly used by the JFF. While the JFF reportedly appropriated travel expenses, ¥9 million was used for a nonapproved purpose — to pay for training programs.

The JFF established an investigate committee last December and the committee handed in the report to the JFF in Wednesday's board meeting.

The 41-page report concluded the JFF is responsible for improper use of funds, though the money was already returned to the JSC, which led to the resignation of all board members.

The report also said the committee found the similar use of money provided from the Japan ese Olympic Committee over at least the last six years, but declined to decide it was illegal because the language of the contract is different from the one with the JSC.