A senior Conservative party official has been accused of racism after writing that an Italian-born constituency chairman was untrustworthy because “his political culture is more in keeping with Sicily than Southsea”.

Comments made by Julian Walden, a deputy treasurer of the party, about Leo Ciccarone, who was then the chair of Portsmouth South Conservative Association, have emerged as the party struggles to cope with dozens of claims of discrimination and Islamophobia.

In an email sent to Conservative party headquarters, Walden wrote that he and the chair of the Hampshire Conservatives, David Parkinson, had met Ciccarone to discuss internal divisions in the local party over support for the then MP Flick Drummond.

“Parkinson and I met with Leo Ciccarone on Thursday 27 October. He has confirmed to us his support for Flick Drummond and his intention to stand down as chairman at the association AGM. Neither David nor I trust Leonardo Ciccarone as far as we could throw him – his political culture is more in keeping with Sicily than Southsea [the city’s Victorian seafront],” wrote Walden.

The email, written in October 2016 and sent to other party officials, was discovered after a “subject access request” by Ciccarone, who stood down as constituency chair last autumn.

Ciccarone, who came to the UK from the southern Italian city of Bari in 1969, said the email confirmed his suspicion that he had been shunned by some in the Conservative party because of his Italian background.

“It seems to me that he was trying to imply that I am somehow connected to the mafia, a false allegation based on watching too many films,” he said. “These people were really trying to signal to each other that I was not one of them because I was not English. They really do think that people from other cultures are not as good as them.”

The local constituency party is in turmoil following a power struggle between two factions and continuing allegations of racism highlighted by the Guardian. These included claims that a white senior party official has been accused of referring to an Asian councillor as an orangutan.

In the last local elections, the Tories fielded four black, Asian or minority ethnic (Bame) candidates. This time, there are none.

Tony Sarigul, who is of Turkish origin and stood in Fratton last year, wrote to residents this week urging them to vote Liberal Democrat and disclosed that he did not feel that he was accepted as a Conservative. “I felt like an outsider in my own party,” he wrote in a leaflet.

Massoud Esmaili, another candidate during last year’s council elections, wrote to the party’s chair, Brandon Lewis, in October calling for a complete overhaul of the local party. He claimed he was only allowed to stand in unwinnable wards because of his race.

Walden, an occasional election agent who has worked for the Conservative party for more than 30 years and lives with his family in Horsham, West Sussex, declined to comment.

The Guardian disclosed last week that Portsmouth was among the least representative authorities in England for people from Bame communities, according to the pressure group Operation Black Vote.

Conservative party headquarters has launched an inquiry into Portsmouth South Conservative Association but, asked about Walden’s comments, a party spokesperson said: “We do not comment on ongoing investigations.”